Southern California Apple Store thefts continue

After two similar thefts at Apple Stores in the Los Angeles area, another one has been reported. Meanwhile, a raid on a police car leads to the discovery of a pile of stolen Macs and iPads.

Most recently on one occasion AppleInsider series, looking at the world of crimes related to Apple.

More laptop thefts from the Apple Store

In early December, they were a couple of reports that the MacBooks were stolen from two different Apple stores, both in Glendale, California. Customers who had ordered the computers showed up only to be told that someone else had impersonated the buyer and taken the item.

Now, there are reports that at least four such thefts they happened right in the Los Angeles area this month.

Conformable NBC Los Angelesa thief used a fake ID and a QR code to intercept a 16-inch MacBook Pro. One of the victims said he received a pending credit from Apple for the purchase amount.

After a theft was reported at a Nissan car dealership in Fort Myers, Florida in early December, an AirPods signal led police to the stolen items and an arrest.

wink rEPORTS $100,000 worth of tool boxes and tools had been stolen. One of those toolboxes contained AirPods, so detectives with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office traced the signal to a storage unit.

The man renting a unit there was caught on surveillance footage loading the tool boxes and turned out to be an employee of the dealership. Found at his current place of work, another dealership, the man was arrested and charged with theft, grand theft and burglary.

AirPods lead to car theft arrests

In another story involving stolen AirPods, Texas police arrested two men after AirPods left behind in a stolen vehicle were traced to a home.

Conformable Kurvea search of the home led to firearms, and the arrest of the two men, who are suspected of “over a dozen” car thefts.

Luigi Mangione mentioned Apple’s market capitalization in his manifesto

The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson mentioned Apple and its market capitalization in the brief “manifesto” found on his person when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.

According to one copy of the manifesto published by journalist Ken Klippenstein, Luigi Mangione referenced Apple compared to the value of health care conglomerates.

“A reminder: The US has the 1st most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank 42nd in life expectancy. United is the largest (indecipherable) company in the US by market capitalization, trailing only Apple, Google, Walmart,” Mangione wrote in the filing.

Conformable website CompaniesMarketCap.comApple was the largest US company by market capitalization at the close on December 20 at $3.846 trillion. United Health was listed as the 17th largest at $460.26 billion.

On December 13, BBC complained Apple about a Apple Intelligence article summary who falsely reported that Mangione had shot himself.

The man accused of hitting the police car had “dozens” of MacBooks

In late November, a Louisiana man was charged with hitting a police car and then running away. Police then found MacBooks and iPads in the car.

KPLC explains that the 27-year-old man was driving a Jeep that was “connected to a multi-agency theft case.” During a chase, he hit a police car, after which he and two passengers fled.

After he was caught on foot, the car was searched and police found “34 MacBook Airs, five MacBook Pros, three iPad Pros and various burglary tools and items.”

Ohio prohibits AirTag tracking

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a new law on Dec. 19 to make it a crime to secretly track other people who use AirTags or other tracking devices.

Conformable YKYCthe television station claimed credit for bringing the issue to the fore in Ohio with a series of reports on the practice and vulnerabilities in the state’s laws.

TikTok posts about credit card information stolen via AirDrop are being called a hoax

Some influencers on TikTok have claimed that iPhone users should disable AirDrop because hackers can steal their credit card information that way. Some versions claimed that a “recent update” made such a thing possible.

However, that was it disappointed as a joke of Lifehacker.

“AirDrop cannot interact with Apple Wallet,” the disclaimer says. “The feature can only share files accessible through the iPhone’s file browser, which is not where Apple Wallet stores information. And even if it were, Apple Wallet doesn’t actually have your credit card information.”

More iPhone thefts in India

An iPhone belonging to a colonel in the Indian city of Lucknow has been stolen and a “sophisticated interstate cyber fraud gang” has been charged with the murder.

Conformable The Times of Indiatwo gang members they were caught in possession of seven stolen mobile phones and six SIM cards. The iPhone belonging to Colonel Santosh Kumar Mishra was taken from a fruit and vegetable market.

In another part of India, Gurgaon, an iPhone belonging to the former Union Minister of the state KJ Alphons was stolen from a railway station, The Times of India reported separately.

And also in India, the police caught a gang who stole iPhones from a store in Jaipur in early November and planned to smuggle them into Bangladesh, India today reported.