An enterprising young man in Kalamazoo, Michigan, found an easy way to make money fast by exploiting Apple’s iPod Shuffle replacement process. Basically, he guessed serial numbers for Shuffles still under warranty and used Apple’s online replacement service to have them shipped to him. He then sold them for $49 a piece. When the authorities caught up with him, he had acquired “seven Apple computers, two vehicles, a motorcycle and more than $571,000” from his scam!
According to a Bostom.com story Nicholas Woodhams, the con artist at work here, would also swap the cases of Shuffles, replacing the backing from an out-of-warranty unit with the backing — and serial number — of a warrantied unit, in order to get broken Shuffles fixed for free. He, in turn, charged his customers for the service.