Scammers Admit To 'Massive' Counterfeit Operation Targeting Apple Stores, Including In The South Bay: DOJ

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Two more defendants on Wednesday admitted to a "massive" multi-million dollar scheme targeting Apple Stores across the Southland, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

Corona residents Yushan Lin, 31, and Shuyi Xing, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, according to the United States Attorney's Office. Xing also pleaded guilty in a separate million-dollar laundering and elder fraud case, federal prosecutors said.

Four other defendants in the case have also pleaded guilty to the charges and are currently awaiting sentencing, according to authorities.

Federal prosecutors say the two Corona residents coordinated with co-conspirators in China to smuggle counterfeit Apple iPhones, iPads and other devices into the United States.

The devices looked genuine and included identification numbers that matched the ones on our real products, making it seem as if they had purchased the items themselves, according to federal prosecutors. These included numbers that were on devices already owned by real people and that were under warranty through either Apple or a manufacturer, authorities said.

Through the scheme, the defendants were able to return thousands of products to Apple Stores, claiming they were broken or defective, according to federal prosecutors. The defendants did this at several stores across the Southland, including the one in Manhattan Beach, federal prosecutors said.

Apple employees would then replace the counterfeit device with a genuine Apple product or ship it to a repair center. When they received back the real device, they'd ship them to other co-conspirators in the United States or China, where they were sold for a "substantial profit," federal prosecutors said.

Ling and Xing attempted to return just under 1,600 fake Apple devices, authorities said. It's unclear how many returns were successful, but federal prosecutors say the scheme caused Apple a loss of more than a million dollars.

On a larger scale, all defendants tried to return 27,645 fake devices, causing a loss of $16.2 million, according to federal prosecutors.

After pleading guilty to the charges, Lin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to authorities. Xing, meanwhile, faces up to 40 years in federal prison, according to the United States Attorney's Office.