Mikey Campbell
New York's Apple Stores have been hit by a rash of burglaries perpetrated by thieves employee lookalikes, the latest heist seeing more than $16,000 worth of iPhones swiped from the company's swanky SoHo outlet.
The New York Police Department said a man dressed in an outfit similar to Apple Store's regulation blue T-shirt waltzed into a back-of-store repair workroom at Apple's SoHo store on June 1, and snatched 19 iPhones valued at $16,130, reports DNAinfo. The hardware was passed off to an accomplice who made off with the loot hidden under his own faux Apple Store blues.
Filching nearly 20 iPhones — likely flipped for filthy, filthy lucre — in a single day is bold, but as Gizmodo notes, the recent thievery might be the latest in a string of heists. Earlier this year the New York Post reported on a small gang of thieves who hit the Upper West Side Apple Store twice in as many months.
Similar to the SoHo job, a woman disguised as an Apple Store worker snuck eight iPhones out of the UWS store in February. Two male partners in crime aided and abetted — one caused a distraction while the other was posted as a lookout. The trio returned to that same store in March and managed to stuff another 59 iPhones into a duffel bag before arousing the suspicion of employees. The 67 stolen iPhones were valued at some $49,300, the report said.
It is unclear why Apple Stores are falling prey to the employee imposter gambit, but some speculate the company's recent change in uniform code is to blame. When retail chief Angela Ahrendts came on board, one of her first items of business was to unify store dress code by reinstating the iconic blue employee T-shirt with small white Apple logo. Although variations are permitted — short sleeve, long sleeve, crew neck and polo shirt — employees are obliged to wear the same dark blue apparel year round, making it easier for criminals to create copycat designs. AppleInsider was first to report on the "Back to Blue...But All New" policy last year.
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24 Comments
Everyone should badge in to get to the back office and badge in again to get to where the iPhones are kept. Simple solution if you ask me.
This article is wrong in a lot of ways, Apple employees wore polo shirts for about 2 months while new high quality shirts were being prepared. They are currently in green long sleeve or short sleeve tshirts for earth awareness. And alternate during the year between navy, gray (green, which is new), and red for holidays. They haven't worn "happy blue" shirts since before the launch of the Apple Watch. So it isn't easier to copycat, if anything it's harder. As before Angela came on board there was basically one shirt design for 80% of the year, in one color, made of a common polo material. With the exception of red during holidays. Now shirts alternate every few months and are a high quality silken stretch material. The reporting on this site is usually good. But this is a bit sloppy
"It is unclear why Apple Stores are falling prey to the employee imposter gambit"
It's pretty clear. They're falling prey because the scam works and is pretty easy to pull off.
Why there is not the appropriate form of security in place that would stop, just this kind of scam, is what is not clear.
I feel like the obvious answer here is put an RFID in employee badges that causes an alarm to go off when some goes through the BOH doorway without a valid badge. Managers could keep spare valid badges up front for the very rare instances where non-employees go to the back of house.