Thief uses fake ID, QR code to steal laptop from Apple Store in Yorba Linda

A Yorba Linda man is the latest victim to the recent rash of pricey laptop impersonation thefts in Southern California.

What makes these latest thefts different is that criminals are impersonating the actual purchaser by using fake ID and in some cases, presenting the actual QR code required for pick up, according to Paul Giles, who was supposed to pick up a 16-inch MacBook Pro for his daughter last month.

“He says, 'oh, I'm sorry this has happened,'” Giles said the manager told him when he arrived inside the Apple store at the Americana at Brand in Glendale. “Somebody apparently impersonated you and picked it up.”

Giles is now without his $5000 purchase. He is at least the fourth Apple customer who has reported their computers were stolen by someone who picked up their purchases.

Rick Markowitz of Sherman Oaks said he ordered his Apple laptop online and opted for an in-store pickup to make sure the $3,600 device doesn’t get stolen.

But when he went to get his brand-new computer last week, the store told him it was already picked up. 

“They told me that apparently someone had shown my ID,” Markowitz said. “Ever since then, I’ve been trying to get this resolved.”

Markowitz said he did not hear back from police despite having filed a police report while trying to resolve the case of the stolen laptop with the company. He said he is puzzled by the situation as he claimed there was no evidence of him being hacked in anyway.

“(Apple) says, ‘We are not saying that it was necessarily you. We are saying someone had your ID and your QR code, and our store protocol says that we hand it to anyone that has the ID,’” Markowitz said. “That’s crazy .. I don’t have any bank account draining. I got no suspicious emails or anything like that.

Giles said he also doesn’t believe he was hacked.

“You know, one of the thoughts has been it's some sort of inside job,” said Giles. “If they truly got the QR code, which is supposedly only on the email sent to me, who else could get that?”

Anyone can, according to Jim Stickley, a nationally known cyber security expert.

“It’s such an easy scam,” said Stickley. “I just get into your computer, I just have to monitor your email and see what your purchases are, when it’s going to be delivered.”

Stickley believes cyber criminals are getting personal information from people’s computers.

“Everyone has this idea, if my computer is compromised, we’d know it, something would be on the screen, my computer would run slow,” said Stickley. “But nowadays, it’s almost impossible to know if a criminal is on your computer.”

He said he wouldn’t be surprised if this type of theft wasn’t happening elsewhere across the country and not just at Apple stores.

“A criminal can see everything you see,” said Stickley once a computer or email is compromised.

“So, if you receive an email and it has that QR code to go pick up your package, the criminals also have that QR code, and they’re just beating you to the punch,” said Stickley.

His advice? One that we often hear from experts: use unique and different passwords on every account you have.

“Another thing is try to use a phone or a tablet, something like that over a PC,” said Stickley. “Desktop PC’s whether mac or windows are way more insecure than a phone or tablet.

In an email Monday the NBCLA, Giles said he received a pending credit dated Sunday for the full amount of the Apple purchase.

As for the investigation, he said he’s staying in touch with Glendale Police.

“I mean, we're out the money. That's the issue,” said Giles. “I already bought a new computer, so I don't need this computer. I need the refund from Apple.”

NBCLA has been reached out to Apple daily since Wednesday but has yet get a response.