Some looters have taken advantage of protests sweeping across America to rummage retail stores for priced goods. Needless to say, Apple was a victim of these invasions, forcing the Cupertino tech giant to close several of its outlets.
The damage has been done, but given the premium status attached to Apple products, the company already came prepared with protective systems for in-store models just in case they would be stolen.
Burglars targeting Apple Stores in the past were effectively left with nothing, as the company had pre-installed software in display devices that would disable the gadgets, rendering them unusable and worthless if resold.
The very same system was found in products recently taken during the looting sprees in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. As shown in a screen capture on Twitter, iPhones illegally taken from Apple Stores displayed a message urging thieves to return the gadgets and warning them that they have been “tracked.”
The popup read, “Please return to [store name]. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.”
According to Forbes, the odds of looted iPhones being returned to their rightful places are slim, and the takers are more likely to sell off the parts or discard the phones for fear of getting caught.
Nah son I swear to god I’d be heated 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/RoFxHV1lLm
— josh (apex male) (@onlyfanobtainer) May 31, 2020
Apple store in Portland being looted during protest pic.twitter.com/GqmGCOqRkt
— Zane Sparling (@PDXzane) May 30, 2020
[via
Leave a Reply