Apple has come under fire for enabling thieves to steal MacBooks ordered online using phony identification documents and QR codes

Customers of Apple are seeing an increase in burglars stealing their MacBooks using complex means.

There have been reports from all throughout Southern California that thieves have been using phony identification documents and phony QR codes to steal computers from Apple stores before the legitimate purchasers can retrieve them. Several media publications have described this crime as happening when customers purchase Apple laptops online only to find out when they get to the store that their product has already been claimed.

Darragh Marmorstein, who lives in Los Angeles, told the Orange County Register her experience. After placing her order, she was notified that her Macbook Pro was prepared for pickup at the Americana at Brand in Glendale. But when she called the store, she was told that her purchase had already been picked up. Apple refused to pay Marmorstein back for the laptop and would not verify that the person who picked it up had a legitimate ID, which saddened her.

The same thing happened to Paul Giles of Yorba Linda, whose 16-inch MacBook Pro was stolen by a phony at the same Glendale store. An Apple manager informed Giles, “It seems like someone picked it up and impersonated you.”

Another victim of this Sherman Oaks fraud was Rick Markowitz. Someone had used a phony ID to get the laptop he had bought for in-store pickup. Markowitz called the police to report the incident, but he has not heard back. Apple notified him that someone had claimed his smartphone using his QR code.

“That’s crazy,” he stated, expressing shock that his laptop might be accessed by someone without any indication of identity theft or hacking.

Kyle Oldoerp, the police spokesperson for Glendale, Irvine, is committed to learning how these criminals were able to accomplish such an accomplishment.

All of them are MacBook Pros, Oldoerp declared. “The key question is how these suspects are obtaining detailed information about a particular product.”