In a sophisticated scheme that blended old-school corruption with modern technology, a crime ring of iPhone porch pirates managed to steal thousands of the Apple devices from unsuspecting homeowners’ porches. Prosecutors recently dismantled the operation, revealing how the group of porch pirates exploited FedEx websites to track packages and bribed AT&T employees to obtain precise delivery data. This brazen combination of insider access and digital savvy allowed the criminals to snatch high-value electronics with alarming efficiency, leaving victims and authorities scrambling to catch up.
Ester Fung for The Wall Street Journal:
Last month, federal authorities arrested 13 people in connection with what they say was an international crime ring that targeted FedEx deliveries nationwide.
Porch thefts aren’t new, but they have become increasingly sophisticated. There was a spree last year—captured on doorbell cameras—where thieves stole iPhones just moments after they were dropped on front steps. They knew when the packages were coming and what was inside.
The group created software to scrape FedEx tracking numbers and bribed AT&T store employees to get order details and delivery addresses, according to a criminal complaint filed in New Jersey. The group then sent thieves to pick off the packages…
The software was created by Demetrio Reyes Martinez, who is known online as “CookieNerd,” according to the complaint. The 37-year-old wrote code to get around FedEx limits on delivery-data requests and sold it via Telegram with instructions on how to run the program, prosecutors said.
An AT&T store employee in Paterson, N.J., Alejandro Then Castillo, used his employment credentials to track hundreds of shipments that were subsequently reported stolen in transit, prosecutors said. He took photos of customers’ names, addresses and tracking numbers and shared them with the criminal group, according to the complaint.
He also worked with another store employee in Fort Lee, N.J., and recruited other employees at the cellular carrier, prosecutors said. Law-enforcement officials believe Then Castillo was receiving $2,000 to $2,500 if he recruited other employees.
MacDailyNews Take: Prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law!
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