Thief Gets Up to 9 Years in Jail for Stealing $1,000,000 in Apple Devices

Shaheed Bilal, 29, has been sentenced to 4.5 to 9 years in jail for running a cybercrime ring that used fake credit cards to purchase more than $1,000,000 in iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks, reports The Chicago Tribune.

The ring, which also included Bilal's brothers and girlfriend, purchased more than $1 million worth of iPads, iPhones and MacBooks over 2 1/2 years starting in 2008 and sold them to dealers in stolen goods in Brooklyn, N.Y. They purchased credit card numbers online, probably from traffickers in Eastern Europe, according to a joint investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney and the United States Secret Service.


Bilal pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second degree and was sentenced Thursday in a New York state court in Manhattan.

According to the prosecution Bilal's brothers, Ali, 25, Isaac, 27, and Rahim, 23, recruited the shoppers and his girlfriend, Ophelia Alleyne, 31, handled operations when he was jailed in another case. Ali and Rahim Bilal pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 1 to 3 years and 2 to 6 years respectively. Alleyne pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 4 - 12 years.