The Liao brothers get 41 months in prison for $6.1 million fraud, fake iPhones and iPads involved

Two brothers get 41 months in federal prison, their wives get three years of probation, and finally, a third brother will face sentencing later this month: welcome to the notorious life of the Liao family! All of that, over a hustle to get some 10,000 fake iPhones and iPads replaced with real ones at Apple Stores across the US and Canada.

The Times of San Diego has the story, which dates back to 2019 when three brothers were indicted: now, Zhimin Liao and Zhiting Liao each received 41-month sentences, while the third one – Zhiwei – still awaits sentencing later in October, as we noted above.

Their plan was simple – import fake iPhones and iPads from China, exchange them for genuine Apple phones and tablets and sell them abroad for a profit. Prosecutors say the Liaos attempted to exchange more than 10,000 of these fake iPhones and iPads at Apple Stores during the scheme, which operated for around eight years and resulted in a total loss of around $6.1 million to Apple (via The Verge).

The brothers’ scheme of tricking the Apple Stores into exchanging fake-for-real might seem easy to the rest of us couch experts, but it sure was a taxing occupation. Prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents that Zhimin Liao personally visited 105 Apple stores in 22 states and tried to exchange around 720 counterfeit iPhones and iPads. Zhiting Liao personally went to at least 200 Apple stores in 18 states and Canada and tried to exchange around 718 counterfeit iPhones and iPads, according to prosecutors.