A mob vandalized an Apple Store in Brooklyn, suspects have been arrested in an investigation into another store's looting, investigators demand data from Apple over a municipal hack, and more crime stories involving Apple, its products, and services.
Apple Store in Christiana Mall
The latest in an occasional Apple Insider series, looking at the world of Apple crime.
Three arrested in Chicago Apple Store looting
Three men, two of them brothers, were arrested in Chicago in early August, for their part in the most recent incident of looting at the Apple Store in Lincoln Park. According to The Chicago Tribune, the men "allegedly helped clean out" the store, and were found with $17,000 in iPhones in their car.
Chicago police are looking through video of 26 people who they say looted the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue on August 10, per CBS Chicago.
Apple Store customer robbed in Delaware
On August 7, a woman who had just purchased products at the Apple Store at Christiana Mall in Delaware was confronted by three juvenile suspects. According to Delaware State Police, one of them was able to take a bag before brandishing a knife at the victim's brother, and then fleeing.
This led to a chase on I-95, which ended with the suspects crashing their car and feeling on foot into the woods. One, 15, was arrested and charged with second degree robbery, aggravated menacing, second degree conspiracy, resisting arrest and breach of release.
Apple Store vandalized in Brooklyn
A group, described by the New York Post as "a rowdy mob," vandalized the Apple Store on Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn. The group reportedly spray-painted the letters "FTP" -- slang for "f-- the police" -- on the Apple Store, while tagging "Murder Bezos" on the side of a nearby Whole Foods.
MacBook with protest footage stolen from Portland man's car
A war veteran and past mayoral candidate in Portland, Ore., who had been documenting the recent protests in that city for a documentary had his MacBook Pro, and the footage on it, stolen from his car after a break-in. According to KATU Sean Davis had been collecting the footage for months, including interviews with two participants who, like him, are Purple Heart recipients.
The computer is a MacBook Pro with stickers in the shape of the state of Oregon and of Bigfoot; a GoFundMe campaign has been set up.
Police used Clearview AI to identify protesters in Miami
Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition technology that was banned by Apple back in February, was used by police in Miami to identify protestors, NBC Miami reported. Some jurisdictions, including Boston and San Francisco, have banned the use of such technologies by law enforcement.
Suspected hack of municipal iPad leads to Apple subpoena
The City Council in Hermosa Beach, Calif., out of a concern that a city-owned iPad was hacked, has issued subpoenas to Apple. According to The Beach Reporter, the city government determined that a subpoena was the only way to determine whether the iPad had actually been hacked.
Steve Bannon indictment didn't involve iCloud data
Two former campaign advisers to President Trump, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, were convicted of crimes in recent years. In both cases, evidence from their iCloud data was used against them.
However, when another former Trump campaign and White House adviser, Steve Bannon, was indicted on August 20 for his part in what prosecutors call a fraudulent GoFundMe campaign, there was no mention in the criminal complaint of iCloud data. As pointed out on Twitter by Prof. David Carroll, a report from an FBI interview with Bannon revealed that the former advisor's iPhone was set up to not back up messages to iCloud:
My favorite part of reading FOIA'd Bannon FBI 302s is where he denies or forgets reading pivotal emails but remembers that someone else set up his iPhone to not backup his texts to iCloud. Thanks to @JasonLeopold and co for making it possible. https://t.co/etduJR0qJ5 pic.twitter.com/YnAeFCPKGl
-- David Carroll (@profcarroll) July 1, 2020
Pallet of iPhones stolen from truck
A pallet with 30 iPhones, valued at $30,000, was stolen from a truck en route from Illinois to Michigan on August 1. Journal Topics reports a temporary worker at the Elk Grove Village warehouse, which the truck departed, is suspected in the theft.
Teenagers jump on car during iPhone theft
Two teenaged girls in Nebraska were hurt when they jumped on a car following a botched iPhone sale. According to The Journal Star, one of the girls had agreed to sell her iPhone for $800 to someone she had met on Snapchat, but the buyer grabbed the phone and attempted to drive away.
The girls then jumped on the car, and were "thrown to the pavement."
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