In the aftermath of the looting that followed LA’s anti-ICE protests this week, there’s a nasty surprise for those that saw the opportunity to steal iPhones from Apple’s store. As seen some years ago when Apple was also targeted, that’s a dangerous mistake.
Per Fox News, T-Mobile, Adidas, and Apple were “among the businesses that were damaged or looted in recent days as rioters clashed with law enforcement over ICE raids in the city. The agency has carried out raids across the city as the administration aims to carry out a massive deportation operation with a goal of 3,000 arrests daily. “
iPhones on display in Apple’s stores are locked and protected. Looters are greeted with an on-screen warning: “Please return to Apple Tower Theatre. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.”
We saw the same in 2020, when looters also took the opportunity to get hold of iPhones at a surprising 100% discount — it doesn’t work as planned. But as one poster on X suggested, there might be another way. “When the news broke they were looting Apple stores, my immediate reaction was, ‘Good luck activating those.’ But actually warning them that they’re being tracked is dumb. Just do it.”
As Mario Nawfal posted on X: “Looters ransacked the Apple Store at Tower Theatre during downtown LA protests. They smashed glass, grabbed phones, laptops, and whatever else wasn’t nailed down. But Apple doesn’t play.” The display models just display that warning. “Translation: Congratulations, you’ve stolen a brick that tattles.”
As I reported when iPhones were looted in the cross-state U.S. riots in 2020, “Apple operates some form of proximity software that disables a device when it is taken illegally from a store.” That mysterious threat was outed then, with the same warning.
As I said at that time, “for users who lose iPhones, Apple provides useful tips as to what to do next. But for those considering stealing one from its stores, the advice is much more simple—don’t. It will not work and may lead to an unwelcome knock on the door.”
The iPhones are also unusable. As MacDailyNews warns, devices looted from Apple stores “are typically bricked — rendered inoperable — once they leave the store’s premises. Apple employs proximity software and a kill switch’ that disables demo units, such as iPhones and iPads, when they are removed from the store’s Wi-Fi network.”
You have been warned.
