Redwood City man, 18, arrested with $2K of fake Apple products

Hamza Fahmy
·1 min read

(KRON) — On Thursday, an 18-year-old was arrested for attempting to sell fake Apple products on Facebook Marketplace, the Redwood City Police Department said.

Police date the event back to January, when someone purchased what they believed to be authentic Apple Airpod Max headphones from the 18-year-old at Sequoia Station in Redwood City.

Despite being fake, the headphones “looked nearly identical” to the original product and were even sealed in an original Apple box with real serial numbers, police said. However, upon usage, the AirPods didn’t work.

Upon investigation, police discovered that the real serial numbers found with the counterfeits were stolen from real devices and that “any associated warranty was invalid,” police said.

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RCPD’s Downtown Services Unit initiated an investigation and located multiple other listings for suspected fake Apple headphones and found similar listings on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, police said.

Undercover officers arranged multiple transactions and purchased several pairs of headphones that were confirmed to be fake. The investigation revealed that the headphones were all originating from one individual, Jose Angel Sanchez, 18, from Redwood City.

A search warrant was then served at Sanchez’s residence, and police found over $2,000 worth of counterfeit products.

Police said that Sanchez was booked into San Mateo County Jail.

We recommend that, for online purchases of electronics, that the buyer make every effort to confirm the functionality and authenticity of the product at the time of purchase. Many manufacturers can verify serial numbers at locations where those items are sold. Purchases should be in safe places and, as a general rule, if it appears to be too good to be true, it probably is.

Lieutenant Rick Perna, Investigations Commander at the Redwood City Police Department

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