“A federal judge in Grand Rapids [Michigan] has sentenced a Kalamazoo man to 13 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $650,000 in restitution to Apple Inc. after being convicted of defrauding the computer maker out of more than 9,000 iPods,” The Associated Press reports.
“Twenty-three-year-old Nicholas Woodhams was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in April to mail fraud and money laundering,” AP reports.
“Federal prosecutors say he figured how to guess the serial numbers of iPod shuffle music players still under warranty and repeatedly used the Cupertino, Calif., company’s Web site, pretending to be a consumer with a broken unit in need of a free replacement,” AP reports. “He then cheaply resold the new Shuffles.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Dumbass.
Dumbass indeed.
It puts Apple in the headlines though.
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Nobody is willing to risk jail time to scam MS for Zunes.
How does one “guess” the serial numbers on anything? OMG lol
The Zune scheme is even more sinister. Call Microsoft’s hotline and tell them you have one that works. They’ll send you like $100.
Might he have gotten away with it had he sought a smaller number of “replacement” units — say 90 instead of 9,000?
And I would’ve gotten away with it too – if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids!
@ iSteve: no jail, but you get to be CEO if you create such a POS!
Then again, maybe working in Redmond IS jail?
Michigan;
The indisputable result of one party rule.
Unchallenged, unfettered Liberal Democracy for 40 years, top down, from the Governor’s office to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, and exemplified in every respect by Detroit.
Michigan typifies, no, epitomizes the Lib Dem philosophy of ME ME ME GIMME GIMMIE GIMMIE other people’s money better than any state in the union, and whatever Nicholas Woodhams did, it was only because that’s the way he was raised to do so in a selfish Lib Dem society.
How did he get away with it 9000 (!) times, before getting caught?
o b ken1w ka no be
Yea, good question
But … $650,000 ? …
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Poor guy’s gonna be mowing Steve’s lawn for a long time
BC
It’s not the $650,000, but the NINE THOUSAND Shuffles..
Did he really think he’d get away with it?
OK so your address, your buddy’s address, your grandma’s, your work… So that’s 4 addresses. Who the hell shipped 8900 shuffles to one address?
Go back to chewing your cud, not regurgitating it.
If someone called Microsoft and said they actually had a working Zune, Microsoft would demand photographic evidence.
Thanks, Moo. I was wondering when the mindless political braying would force it’s way into an unrelated topic.
Moo, go oink somewhere else with that shit.
The Dude abides.
@Moo I love how you dittoheads can extrapolate such a huge widespread Democratic conspiracy out of a story about a guy who stole some iPods.
“How did he get away with it 9000 (!) times, before getting caught?”
They were on to him after they realized there weren’t 9000 people in Michigan who could afford an iPod.
And a republican wouldn’t take anything given to them free? If you believe that I’ve got some free Apple products for you.
I would tell you how to do it without having them all shipped to only a few addresses but that part really does not matter. His operation would still stick out because quality control checks would reveal the BIG spike in broken iPod, all Shuffles, all in one region.
Im from kalamazoo and iv met this guy a few times, hes really a nice guy, doesnt deserve 13 months in prison thats for sure, but I was always confused on how the hell he was so rich. he started his own ipod repair buisness, had a few employees that actually blackmailed him for the longest time, finally they turned him in. he would of got away with it for a very long time. I heard he started the buisness up with a smaller scam, he bought lots of ipod’s from best buy, took out the parts and filled them with steel beads, that weighed the same as a regular ipod. then returned them for his money back. therefor having lots of parts to start a buisness with. this guy is very intelligent, im sure he will come back up in the world very quickly. hopefully with a more honest approach