Another shipment was reportedly intercepted in Los Angeles County, making it the third shipment of expensive laptops stolen in Southern California this November.
But this time, instead of stealing in front of consumers’ homes, they went a few steps further.
“I ordered the laptop online and picked it up at the store because I didn’t want it stolen,” consumer Rick Markowitz told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw on Saturday. “So I said, ‘I’m here for in-store pickup,’ and right away they said, ‘Your laptop has already been picked up,’ and I thought, ‘What are you talking about?’ I’ve never been to
Markowitz said he is now out $4,000 after a scammer picked up his computer from the Apple Store in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday.
While still at the store, Markowitz said she asked staff members if they had been hacked.
“They said, ‘We don’t know if you were hacked or not, but we’re saying someone came in with an ID with your name on it and picked up your laptop.'”
Markowitz filed a police report and then decided to do her own research, searching online to see if this incident had happened to anyone else recently.
A Nov. 28 KTLA report on a thief who police believe posed as a customer and showed identification to a delivery driver before leaving with another person’s package. Found – two separate cases.
“So I was like, wait, this is the third case of someone who owns a laptop and is specifically intercepted and tracked by Apple?” Markowitz posed. “And mine was in the store, which is crazy.”
Unlike the other two cases, security camera footage was not immediately available in Markowitz’s case. However, the similarities in each of the three incidents are causing concern not only to experts but also to residents.
“Essentially, this is identity theft,” argued former police lieutenant and crime prevention expert Randy Sutton, who believes these victims were hacked.
“Creating a fake ID is a walk in the park, especially when you’re dealing with sophisticated people,” Sutton says.
He said in these three cases, fraudsters may have hacked the victims’ phones to obtain tracking information and create identification documents.
Police did not immediately say whether the incident was believed to be connected to two other incidents in Southern California.
Sutton advises consumers to visit malwarefox.com to find out if their phone has been hacked. The website says it lists “all the different techniques used to compromise information.”
And while Markowitz thought he was doing everything right, he wants to warn shoppers.
“As a result, I have to beg, kick and scream my way up the Apple ladder to get a refund for a laptop that was never given to me,” Markowitz said.
Sutton said credit card companies often bear the brunt of the fraud in such cases, and consumers are typically reimbursed.
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