Thieves often seek out iPhones and turn a quick profit by selling it to third parties. This time around Police has seized 55 stolen iPhones from four people in a speeding car.

The Police started chasing the car which was being driven at 100mph in the zone with a 65mph speed limit zone. Luckily for them, they found a stash of 55 stolen iPhones along with phone service plan paperwork in the car. The culprits were apprehended on U.S Highway 34 near Galesburg.

The stolen booty consisted of 53 iPhone 11’s and two iPhone XS Max. All the iPhones were still in their boxes accompanies with phone plan contracts. Later the investigating authorities learned that iPhones were obtained via identity theft and purchased across the United States.

Through further investigation, it was learned the iPhones were obtained through identity theft and purchased fraudulently from around the United States. The estimated value of all the phones is approximately $80,000, based on an estimate from AT&T given to police that priced the phones between $1,200 and $1,500 each.

All the accused are waiting at the Knox County jail for bond to be set. This makes me wonder whether they would have gotten away if they didn’t over speed.

Our Take

This is not the first time the iPhone has been stolen in identity theft scams. Last year, iPhones worth a staggering $19 million were stolen because of an identity theft scam. The modus operandi included making small payments via cloned debit cards and buying the phones. Once purchases the fraudsters used a different card to make the rest of the payments. In order to avoid getting caught, the fraudsters traveled across the US.

Typically in cases of identity theft, the attacker gains access to your mobile account by impersonation. Next up they order high-end iPhones and then eventually sell the stolen device to the third party.