Selfies on iCloud help capture a gang behind a series of burglaries, iPad thefts, and a UK crime spree make up this week’s Apple Crime Blotter.
The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.
Selfies found in iCloud helped nab gang accused of burglarizing prominent athletes
The criminal ring believed responsible for the burglaries at the homes of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow and other prominent athletes have been caught, and iCloud reportedly played a role.
According to an ESPN report that cited an FBI document, seven Chilean nationals took part in the thefts, which took place over a three-month period in 2024. The gang members, per the report, were “undone by allegedly posting photos for co-conspirators to see via an iCloud site.”
The report said the FBI was able to access the iCloud account via a search warrant.
One photo shows four of the accused thieves posing with watches stolen from the home of NBA player Bobby Portis:
FBI details how selfies helped nab Chilean gang allegedly targeting pro athletes this complaint includes an unidentified athlete on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers https://t.co/J2CwkoqpIJ
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) February 20, 2025
The homes of Mahomes and Kelce were robbed while their team, the Kansas City Chiefs, was playing a nationally televised game.
University employee indicted for selling stolen Apple products
A California man was indicted in mid-February on federal charges that he used a procurement card at the university where he worked to fraudulently purchase MacBooks and Apple iPads, which he then sold.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California, Tung Pham has been charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate. He is accused of selling the items to a coconspirator, who sold them to other states.
CBS News, citing a LinkedIn page, reported that Pham worked as the facilities manager of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library at San Jose State University, and the university told CBS that was terminated in 2020.
iPad, prosthetic leg among items stolen from healthcare center
Down the road in Los Gatos, a grand theft was reported on February 14 at Vasona Creek Healthcare.
Per San Jose Mercury News, items reportedly stolen in the theft included a laptop, an iPad, a transceiver radio, and a prosthetic leg.
AirTag used to recover stolen equipment
A large trove of stolen equipment, including a $56,000 TimberKing Sawmill belonging to the St. Louis County Parks Department, has been recovered after it was taken by what’s been described as a multi-county theft ring.
According to Fox 2 Now, the Sawmill was likely at a junkyard-like property for about three months. he AirTag on it was useless at the time because “no one at the location had Apple technology nearby.”
However, once a man purchased the device, the AirTag pinged, and the buyer gave police the location. There, they discovered a massive cache of items stolen from various places, including golf carts, Bobcat skid loaders, and a UTV.
Two people were charged with the thefts.
Man arrested for stealing iPad, using it to transfer money
A Louisiana man has been arrested for breaking into a home, stealing an iPad, and using the iPad to both transfer himself money and apply for loans.
WBRZ reports the man accessed the accounts belonging to the iPad’s owner more than 60 times. More than two years after the alleged crimes, the man was charged with 63 counts of identity theft and one count each of simple burglary and illegal transmission of monetary funds.
iPhone thieves caught in graveyard
Two men were sentenced for a home burglary in the U.K. that took place in September of 2024, in which an iPhone was among the stolen items. After that theft, police followed the Find My iPhone signal to catch them in a graveyard.
According to Cornwall Live, the two men took several items, including “15 bottles of wine, earrings, [and] some cash” from that house, in addition to the iPhone. Both men pled guilty to charges of burglary dwelling and theft with no violence.
Shots fired during iPhone sale meetup
A Georgia woman and her son meeting buyers of their iPhone 5 were met with three assailants who jumped into the woman’s car with a gun and demanded both the phone and money.
TheMcClatchy News Service explains the son was in a convenience store when the robbery began, and once he saw what was happening, he pulled his own gun and fired 15 shots.
No one was injured, but the car was “wrecked,” police said, and all three accused robbers were arrested.
Woman charged after shots, and iPhone seller made to get naked
In another iPhone sale gone wrong, this time in Milwaukee, a woman was arrested after a January incident.
According to WISN, a couple arrived at a home to sell an iPhone for $600. The man went into the house, after which his girlfriend heard the man being threatened.
The people in the house then walked the man, who was naked, back to the car at gunpoint. They stole the woman’s purse and wallet and the boyfriend’s phone, and as they drove off, the assailants shot at them.
The woman who greeted them when they arrived at the house has been charged with armed robbery and recklessly endangering safety as a party to a crime.
U.K. crime spree included thefts of iPhone, electric toothbrushes
A 37-year-old British man has been charged with stealing several items from different stores on a single day, including a woman’s iPhone.
The Tivy-Side Advertiser reports the “professional criminal” stole “a 22 [pound] shirt from The Original Factory Shop, Nike jogging bottoms from FOE Sports shop, and three electric toothbrushes, worth a total of 300 [pounds], from Boots,” while also grabbing an iPhone at Cardigan Guildhall.
The man has pled guilty to all charges.
