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Best Buy 'Mission: Impossible', music festival iPhone thefts, World Cup warning and more on the Apple crime blotter

Stealing $100,000 of product via rappelling, mass iPhone theft at the Firefly festival, and a warning about Russian hackers. The latest in an occasional AppleInsider feature: A look at Apple-related crime.

Best Buy theft involves sophisticated rappelling

In a crime seemingly inspired by Tom Cruise in the first "Mission: Impossible" movie, burglars executed a theft at a Georgia Best Buy that involved stealing more than $100,000 in Apple products by rappelling from the ceiling.

According to WSB-TV, the thieves entered through a hole in the ceiling, burrowed into a storage room, and stole iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. Police suspect the theft may be related to similar crimes in Texas and Florida.

Man arrested for stealing 27 iPhones at Firefly Music Festival

The Find My iPhone feature led to the recovery of an iPhone stolen from an attendee of the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware- leading to the arrest of a man in possession of 27 stolen iPhones as fruit of a festival pickpocketing ring. According to the Associated Press, the 34-year-old man has been charged with multiple theft counts.

And in other Find my iPhone news:

World Cup attendees warned about device hacking

Americans traveling to Russia for the World Cup have been warned by a cybersecurity expert not to bring electronic devices because of the likelihood that the devices would be hacked by "criminals or the Russian government."

William Evanina, an FBI agent and director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, told Reuters that while corporate and government officials are more likely to be targeted, anyone else could be as well.

ID theft case leads to delivery of iPhone X

This feature regularly tells you about stolen iPhones, but one recent story involved the unauthorized delivery of one. According to the Bismark Tribune, five recent identity theft cases in the Bismark, N.D., area have resulted in the unauthorized creation of Verizon Wireless accounts without users' knowledge, with one of them receiving an iPhone X in the mail that she had not ordered.

The iPhone came with a bill including $1,320 in unauthorized Verizon service charges. The woman hadn't previously been a customer of Verizon.

iPhone thieves dressed up for thefts, were "really bold"

Three thieves have been caught on camera stealing iPhones from a T-Mobile store in Mississippi, and then a AT&T store next door 30 minutes later. According to Local Memphis, one thief was dressed as a construction worker, another wore a security shirt, they left in a Jaguar, and "they were really bold about it," the T-Mobile district manager said.

iPhone texts detail South Florida rental car theft scam

A Florida theft ring that entailed stealing rental cars by enlisting "homeless people or drug addicts to rent vehicles using stolen ID's and credit cards," and later flipping the cars at auctions was busted. An iPhone found in one of the cars included text messages that spelled out "shopping lists" of cars to steal, and instructions for how to flip VIN numbers.

According to the News Press, four were arrested for their parts in the scheme, and face charges including conspiracy, grand theft of a vehicle, possessing stolen credit cards, and multiple drug charges.

Man made $4,000 Apple Store purchase with stolen card

A man who police say used a stolen credit card for a $4,000 purchase at the Apple Store in Santa Barbara, Calif., was caught on security footage. According to a photo published in The Independent, the accused thief is a stocky man in a Hawaiian shirt, khakis a cap and a large smartphone indentation in his left pants pocket.

Apple Store thieves cleared table

A group of burglars stole "a whole table's worth of merchandise" in the middle of the day from a crowded Apple Store in San Luis Obispo, Calif. According to KSBY, the thieves stole the merchandise and ran out of the store, escaping in a Chevy Malibu with tape over the rear license plate.

Kid left in car catches thieves

A couple who stole an iPad and other items from a parked van at a Kroger location in Ohio were caught- after the 11-year-old boy waiting in that same car identified them. According to the Herald Star the boy, who had elected to stay in the car while his parents shopped, was able to both identify the thieves and note that they had gotten on a city bus. Both were later arrested.

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