A former executive of the endless Chinese Foxconn factory is under indictment for the theft and sale of 5,700 iPhone 5 and 5S with a total value of more than $1.56 million
The lawsuit initiated by the Taipei prosecutor's office concerns events that took place between 2013 and 2014 when the executive worked in the iPhone testing department. The theft came to light during an internal audit at Foxconn.
Foxconn - for those who know it - is certainly the best-known Chinese factory in the West, not only because it assembles hi-tech products on behalf of IT giants of the caliber of Apple and Sony, but because it has been in the eye of the storm for many years due to the large number of suicides involving its workers. The company, located in the immense industrial complex of Shenzhen (in southern China), today returns to the limelight of the chronicle for the theft of almost 6,000 iPhones by a former manager with the complicity of eight other employees who resold the jewels of Cupertino exploiting a simple, as banal stratagem.
How to steal 5600 iPhones
The former Foxconn executive, as mentioned, worked in the field of testing iPhones and, specifically, the iPhone 5 and 5S. It is the Taipei prosecutor's office that broadly explains the ruse used for this unprecedented theft that took place between 2013 and 2014. The executive, known exclusively by the last name Tsia, was in charge of testing iPhones in the Shenzhen plant. The department in question was doing nothing more than testing the Applephones that were to be, later on, scrapped. But, instead of being destroyed, they were stolen and sold in stores in Shenzhen, generating substantial earnings that the Taipei prosecutor's office has estimated at around 2.2 million dollars. Tsia now faces a conviction for embezzlement and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. And the eight accomplices won't fare much better.