A group of thieves made off with $13,000 worth of iPhones from an Apple store in Natick, Massachusetts, local reports said.
The group of seven men and women, who are believed to be teens or young adults, walked into the busy store together around 7 p.m., stole 19 iPhones — tearing them from their attached security tethers — and quickly fled, local police said. “We’ve been hearing about this,” said Carla Rossi, a Natick police spokesperson. “They’re traveling in packs. They brazenly walk in together and steal.”
A video of the heist, which was posted to the Natick Police Department’s Facebook page, shows that the group entered the retail location all at once, and wore hoodies and hats to shield their identities. From the video, it seems that the theft was fairly well-orchestrated. The entire caper reportedly took around a minute. A related Facebook post suggested that the unidentified group may be connected to a similar theft that occurred last week in nearby Hingham, The Next Web reported.
The incident in Natick is among a string of Apple retail store thefts across the country. In June, a group of thieves disguised as Apple store employees swindled more than $16,000 worth of iPhones from a retail location in New York City. Similarly, a group of three thieves were able to hit the Upper West Side Apple store in March — twice. They used disguise and distraction tactics, and made off with a total of 67 iPhones, according to AppleInsider.
But Apple store thefts in the future might be in vain. In redesigned Apple stores across the globe, Cupertino is removing the tethers from its iPhones and replacing them with other security measures — such as a feature that disables a device once it goes out of range of an Apple store’s Wi-Fi network.
How do you think Apple should combat theft? Let us know in the comments below!
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