For the second time this week, a thief has walked away from an Apple Store in Los Angeles County with a MacBook after posing as the person who ordered it.
“I’ve bought a few Apple products while re-picking them up at the store and it feels a little safer, but this time that wasn’t the case,” said customer Kyle Bales.
On Tuesday, he went to the Apple Store at Glendale’s Americana at Brand to pick up the computer he ordered with his QR code and ID, only to find that someone else had claimed it.
“They said, ‘Yes, someone picked it up. It sounds like you should report it to the police,'” Bales said.
He says the lack of help he received was similar Rik Markowitz experienced at the Apple Store across the street in the Glendale Galleria when someone took the MacBook he was about to pick up.
“They said, ‘Hey, you already picked up your laptop,'” Markowitz recalled. “I say, ‘What are you doing? I was sick in bed yesterday. I haven’t picked up this laptop yet.’
“I can’t say anything about leads or anything like that other than we have several reports that have gone to our financial crimes unit for investigation,” said Glendale Police Sgt. said Vahe Abramyan.
Last month, expensive Apple devices were intercepted in Lawndale and Irvine as UPS drivers were about to make deliveries. According to police, the suspect used fake IDs to take the orders.
“I believe there is a criminal gang behind this,” said security expert Patrick Harr.
Harr runs SlashNext, an email and message security company. He thinks the thieves gain access to email via the dark web or phishing.
“They went to the dark web, found a user ID and a driver’s license. They take that to the Apple Store. They present that ID. They present the QR code. They take the laptop,” he said.
Experts like Harr advise consumers not to click on suspicious emails and text messages and not to routinely change their passwords. Also never use the same password for all your applications.
Bales wanted to replace his old computer after the keys stopped working properly. With Apple keeping his money without receiving his laptop, he finds it difficult to stay loyal to the tech giant.
“It’s crazy. They can keep my money and not give me a laptop,” he said. “I don’t even say, ‘We’ll call you back when we find out what happened.’
KCAL News reached out to Apple for comment on Monday. They have not responded as of Wednesday.
