NYPD Arrests 141 Merchants For Buying Stolen iPhones

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Posted December 19, 2011 at 4:59pm by Shalom Levytam

A NYPD string operation has nailed 141 merchants at bodegas, newsstands, and barbershops for buying what they believed were stolen iPhones and iPads, according to the New York Post.

Undercover NYPD officers sold the electronics to merchants at more than 600 stores around the five boroughs this week - asking from $50 to $200 for iPhone 4s and iPad 2s - after clearly stating the popular gadgets were stolen, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

The police are hoping the sting will make people think twice about purchasing stolen merchandise.

"That's our intention, to reduce the places where people who steal these things can go and sell them," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. "If someone is offering you an iPad for way below market value, you have to realize that it's most likely stolen."

The police made 42 arrests in Brooklyn, 41 in Manhattan, 31 in The Bronx, 21 in Queens, and 6 on Staten Island.

Read More [via MacRumors]

NYPD Arrests 141 Merchants For Buying Stolen iPhones

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spliffy - December 20, 2011 at 2:14am

didn't get me!

shar - December 19, 2011 at 10:23pm

"If someone is offering you an iPad for way below market value, you have to realize that it's ->most likely<- stolen." They targeted people who would buy a stolen device after they are being told it is stolen. In real life you will never be told that what you are buying is stolen, you might consider it a possibility but you never know. This achieved nothing, except playing a little with the conscious of those who would on purpose buy stolen goods, as far as anybody else is concerned they might still give them benefit of the doubt.

bacon - December 19, 2011 at 9:20pm

they were only targeting people who were constantly buying stolen phones in order to make it harder for criminals to sell them. the harder it is for them to sell the less they will steal.

Boo - December 19, 2011 at 5:25pm

Isn't that entrapment?

Oh no, Popo - December 19, 2011 at 6:38pm

Nope. They always have the choice to not buy them once they were told they were stolen.

bacon - December 19, 2011 at 5:25pm

I'll take an iPad 2s