Crime blotter: 94-year-old man attacked in Apple Store

Monkeys are stealing iPhones from tourists in Bali, a mom tracked down her stolen AirPods in Italy with some hair-pulling required, and one man tried to steal the same MacBook twice, in this week's Apple Crime Blotter.

The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.

A 94-year-old Apple Store customer is assaulted

A 94-year-old man was attacked at the Apple Store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in early August by a 31-year-old man who was later arrested and charged with assault.

According to PIX 11, the man went up to the 94-year-old in the store and punched him in the face.

Per Chelsea News, the accused assailant fled on foot, and was arrested two days later. He is being held at Rikers Island on $8,000 bail.

Monkeys steal iPhones from tourists in Bali

In what The Wall Street Journal calls "one of the world's most sophisticated scam operations," iPhones and other valuables are frequently stolen from tourists by monkeys.

The Journal reportedin late July that the long-tailed macaques have frequently stolen from human visitors to the Uluwatu Temple in Indonesia.

The animals, per the report, can "distinguish between objects we highly value" and those we don't, and often barter accordingly.

There have been similar reports in the past, including at Cambodia's Angkor temple complex. In February, Agence France-Presse reported that the macaques who had been taking valuables from tourists there had been "egged on by YouTubers."

Mom on trip to Italy tracks down stolen AirPods

A mother of eight visiting Venice was able to track down her stolen purse, and the AirPods in it, by tracking them.

According to Fox 11, the woman had her purse taken by pickpockets and eventually chased the thieves down, even grabbing "one of the teenage girls by her ponytail" and holding on until police arrived.

The woman's daughter shared the ponytail-grabbing video on TikTok:

The recovered purse, in addition to the AirPods, contained the mother's passport, credit cards, and cash.

Apple product deliveries stolen from two New Jersey homes

Two different households in Glen Rock, N.J., reported that packages containing Apple products were stolen from their homes on the same day in early August.

New Jersey Patch reports one of the burglaries contained a delivery of an Apple Watch and iPad, while the other contained a MacBook. A neighbor did provide video of the first theft, from a home video camera.

Man in Italy arrested for extortion after attempting iPhone scam

A 19-year-old man in Cagliari, Italy, has been arrested and charged with extortion, after police say a 79-year-old tourist's iPhone was stolen.

Then, the man received a call from someone claiming to be a "bona fide buyer," offering to sell it back to him.

According to L'Unione Sarda, the victim immediately called the Carabinieri, who located the thief's home and found both the stolen iPhone and the different phone used to make the call. The accused thief was placed under house arrest.

Delivery driver arrested for multiple attempts to steal the same MacBook

A 38-year-old man who worked as a Spark delivery driver has been arrested for trying to steal from a Walmart in Maryland, including two failed attempts to steal the same MacBook on the same night.

The Bay Net, citing the statement of probable cause, explained the driver went to Walmart to pick up an order, and in the process tried to conceal the MacBook.

A store employee caught him and retrieved the MacBook, and then came back 90 minutes later and tried to steal the same MacBook again, also unsuccessfully, this time by wrapping a towel around it and trying to pay for the towel.

A week later, he successfully stole a $149 Ninja Kitchen system, but was nevertheless arrested, in part because the Spark database included his identification and photograph.

AirTag helps recover stolen moped

A 46-year-old Connecticut man was arrested on August 7 for stealing a moped from the parking lot of a train station. Police said an AirTag on the moped helped find it, and lead to the arrest.

According to Connecticut Patch, the moped was found in the dumpster at an auto repair business. The suspect was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance, both first offenses.

Man charged with another AirTag stalking crime

A South Carolina man charged in 2024 with second-degree harassment for using tech for harassment purposes has been arrested again for a similar crime.

WMBF said the man has been arrested for "allegedly placing Apple AirTag tracking devices in the victim's car and purse."

After that arrest, he was warned to have no contact with the victim, but police told the station that he violated that order just weeks later. The second-degree harassment charge is still pending, but the man is now booked on the stalking charge.

Fraudsters steal iPad using "fake banking transactions"

A pair of "fraudsters" stole a customer's iPad, by using "fake banking transactions," at a Westgate store in Oxford, in the U.K.

According to The Oxford Mail, in-store cameras did capture two men who are believed to be responsible for the theft.