Imgur Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/YwMa3hU
On saturday I took delivery of this package - the order was done directly through Apple’s UK website and the tracking was all legit. I got confirmation emails from apple and tracking details through DPD, everything as you would expect.
Once my package arrived, as you can see in my Imgur Gallery, I immediately knew it wasn’t right.
I opened the box and the first thing I notice is the screen protector, first thoughts were, had I been sent a return?
The next thing I notice when I turn it on, the screen isnt right, it lights up the black area in a way that is clearly not OLED and the bottom has a ‘Chin’ which suggests this is not correct for the phone.
Once I turned it on I was greeted with a very poor setup process and I immediately clocked that it was an android device in a skin. It may have convinced my Grandad but I could tell very quickly (especially when I saw actual android toasts popping up in some cases)
I managed to skip all the setup screens and get into the phone. It has facebook, youtube and tiktok installed already, the OS is glitchy and horrible, the camera is like a slideshow and crashes if you try to use any UI element on screen.
My main worry with this is that there are many people out there getting these phones and some may think it’s legit and then login to them using their apple IDs, facebook accounts, google etc etc. The phone is a match to the spec I ordered, Pro Max in natural titanium. Why go to the effort of matching my order is my question. Are they hoping to get on my wifi network or get login details for things? What if I tried to setup apple wallet? The app is there on the home screen when I open it.
Before anyone asks, yes I have a ticket open with Apple support and they will be getting back to me soon. I can update in comments if anyone is interested in the resolution to this issue.
Mainly I wanted to try and get this out there as a warning. If you do recieve anything like this, dont let it on your wifi network and dont login to it on anything, god knows what it could be hooked up to do.
Anyone got any ideas as to how this was achieved? I’ve been speculating with friends already. At first I thought DPD did the switch but they assure me that the box was sealed properly and so it was never opened or tampered with so couldnt of been them… Then I thought it might be at the supplier end? What’s crazy to me is that the whole delivery was trackable through the apple website and the tracking number on the box and everything matched so the process wasn’t broken at all from apple’s side either. Very interesting.
Anyways TLDR: I got an Android phone dressed as an iPhone that I ordered brand new direct from apple. It could be a scam to get my data - beware with your new phone purchases!
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For a fake, it actually doesn’t look half bad lol.
Ordered an Apple Watch direct from Apple a few years ago. It took 3 replacements to get it to me because it kept being stolen from the package. It finally came down to the packaging tape that was used to close the box again. Apple uses their own specific type of packaging tape. It ended up that FedEx had a group of people stealing Apple products. It was finally sent through a different FedEx branch and I opened it in front of the delivery driver to confirm it was in there. Anyways, I said all of this to confirm the packaging tape with Apple with pictures of the box.
Organized crime has re-infiltrated several shippers. Fun fact: UPS was started as liquor-smuggling front by Al Capone.
and i thought ordering a phone from amazon was safe
The EMID on the box doesn’t match the EMID on the screen and I suspect the serial number doesn’t either. Was the box shrink-wrapped and had seals on the sides? Re-shrink wrapping isn’t hard, but the box will usually show damage if the seals are removed. As others have said, this looks more like someone tampered with it in shipping.
This is why you record your unboxing.
Same thing happened to me except there was no phone in the box. Now I will only purchase in-store.
Long story short, someone at DPD swapped it. Apple will refuse to replace it. Check here
I had a similar experience with my 15 Pro Max order. Received a 14 Pro Max instead. It was brand new and sealed and confirmed to be real by Apple. The shipping carton also appeared to be sealed, although after closer inspection, one end looked like it had been opened and re-sealed.
Apple completed an investigation and found that there was absolutely no way an iPhone 14 could have ended up in there. They refused to replace the device. Some people have even received better devices than they ordered, but are still refused a replacement.
In the end, I sent a Karen email to Tim Cook and they agreed to replace my device “as a gesture of goodwill”. Others had this luck? too, but at least one has been denied.
Apple don’t provide any details of their investigation nor will they discuss how they are confident in a 0% error rate in their distribution processes. But one of the victims on the above link has been told by a mobile network that there may be a scam involving courier employees and a device that can scan Apple parcels to determine the contents in order to switch it for fake/stolen phones. Sounds farfetched. I definitely just thought they’d mixed mine up, but that was before it took me 7 weeks to get a £1,500 phone that I’d paid for and found a dozen other people with the same issue.
Are you also in UK? Seems UK is rapidly declining.
Huh I wonder why a scammer would replace it with a real sealed iPhone 14 Pro Max vs a cheap copy like in OP’s case. Your phone wasn’t blacklisted or anything right?
I wonder if in your case it was an honest mistake made at the Apple warehouse depot level vs an actual scam. I believe all of these packages and devices are serialized so mistakes like these shouldn’t happen.
So in their investigation Apple basically thought you were trying to scam them by trying to swap for a newer model?
This is literally exactly what I told Apple. Brand new, sealed, legit iPhone 14 Pro Max that wasn’t blacklisted or activation locked and Apple Care checker showed manufacture date of a few weeks prior to receipt. I hadn’t even opened the device box. Saw it immediately and assumed they’d just sent me someone else’s order and would replace it. Couldn’t believe it when they sent me an email that simply said “we’ve completed our investigation and concluded that the item was delivered on x date”
Apple have told me on several occasions that it’s impossible for them to mix them up. I don’t know how, but even the exec I spoke to told me the same. They don’t even want the 14 Pro Max back. Because they say it’s not their property, so can’t take it.
There are people who’ve ordered 15 pro, but received the 1TB 15 Pro Max. Apple still take the same stance. Despite the £1,000 price difference in the customers favour. I still can’t work out what the scam is in this instance.
What’s with you ppl making shit up. Oh yeah you emailed the CEO of the most profitable tech company and he was like “goodwill” hahahaha
That is just r/Crazy
the person who was shipping it might have done a sneaky switch
Carrier definitely messed with it. They know exactly what’s in your package from Apple.
This is wild. I have heard about these fake iPhones. Never seen one though. It looks like a modified Motorola judging by the chin at the bottom.
I’m curious to see how Apple handles the situation.
In the tracking info, was it shipped from their warehouse overseas in China/India or from somewhere closer? I remember the iPhone 12 I bought came directly from China.
I’m guessing it had to have been switched at the delivery level, maybe at the shipping warehouse or by a courier. The cardboard boxes Apple uses to ship their products are pretty standardized and obvious to people who’ve seen them before.
What did Apple say? Did Apple have you bring the fake phone to the Apple Store or ship it back to them for investigation? Did they give you a time frame on when they’ll get back to you?
People thinking Apple actually shipped this guy a fake is hilarious. It’s obviously been switched out en-route. So people are so dumb.
I wonder if it’s some specifically made fake iphone or maybe an actual android phone mocked up to like an iphone