The U.S. Department of Justice recently cracked down on an international crime ring that targeted expensive electronics like the iPhone, with the workings of the complex crime system detailed in a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Thirteen members of an international network worked to steal FedEx shipments of iPhones from people's porches, using automated scripts to scrape data from FedEx tracking systems and also bribing corrupt employees from AT&T. The employees took payments to share confidential customer information from a company order tracking system, snapping images of customer names, addresses, and tracking numbers.
Some members of the criminal network obtained and sold delivery information, while others, called runners, purchased that info and physically stole the iPhone packages from doorsteps just minutes after they were delivered.
Three of the criminals had a location in the Bronx neighborhood of New York where they received a steady stream of stolen devices, while another had a location in Brooklyn for receiving bulk deliveries of stolen devices from around the United States. Thefts occurred in multiple states, and the stolen devices were shipped and sold overseas.
At one point, two of the runners involved went to a FedEx store to send a package and claimed that there were baby clothes inside. FedEx security inspected the package, located stolen iPhones, and confiscated them. When the package arrived empty, one of the men complained to FedEx customer service that his iPhones had been stolen.
Both FedEx and AT&T worked with law enforcement officials to locate all of the criminals involved. In a statement, FedEx said that it has been proactively working with law enforcement to "address the rise of porch piracy," while AT&T said that it regularly updates its processes and employee training to thwart criminal tactics.
All of the people who participated in the criminal scheme have been charged, with some of them facing up to 20 years in prison.
