Organized ring charged with using fake credit cards at Apple Stores

Prosecutors in New York City have charged 27 people with organizing and running a ring of credit card fraud that was used to rip off Apple Stores around the United States. The thieves were able to buy over $1 million of Apple gear by obtaining stolen credit card numbers and manufacturing IDs and credit cards to go along with them, which were then used to simply purchase computers and devices straight from Apple. Those devices were then sold through a fence in Brooklyn, NY.

NPR also says that three guns, $300,000 in cash and various bank accounts were seized during the investigation, which apparently went on so long that even when the original ringleader was arrested and placed in jail, he passed messages to his girlfriend about how to keep the ring going. The charges filed involve incidents from June 2008 up to last December, so like a lot of other Apple-related thefts we've seen, the items "purchased" were likely iPhones, iPads and MacBooks.