Chinese National Sentenced to 37 Months in Federal Prison for Trafficking Counterfeit iPhones from Hong Kong

PORTLAND, Ore.—Quan Jiang, 30, a Chinese national and former engineering student at Linn Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, was sentenced today to 37 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for trafficking fake and altered Apple iPhones.

According to court documents, between January 1, 2016, and February 1, 2018, Jiang would regularly receive packages containing between 20 and 30 counterfeit iPhones from associates in Hong Kong. Using various assumed names, Jiang would submit each iPhone to Apple in person or online for a warranty replacement; he would then ship the genuine replacement devices he received back to China for resale. In exchange for his service, Jiang’s associate would pay Jiang’s mother, also residing in China, who would in turn deposit the money into Jiang’s bank account.

Jiang’s scheme first came to the attention of law enforcement on April 20, 2017, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized a shipment of 28 iPhone 6 devices en route to Jiang in Corvallis, Oregon. Later, on October 23, 2017, CBP seized a similar shipment of 25 iPhone 7 Plus devices addressed to Jiang. In both instances, CBP sent Jiang a notice of seizure, indicating that Apple representatives had confirmed the phones were counterfeit. Nevertheless, three more shipments—each with 29 iPhones—were seized by CBP in November 2017.

Jiang later admitted to investigators that he knew the devices were counterfeit and that it was illegal to submit them to Apple as genuine products still under warranty. In just over two years, Jiang imported more than 2,000 inoperable counterfeit iPhones. He ultimately obtained approximately 1,500 genuine replacement iPhones, each with an approximate resale value of $600.

On April 25, 2018, Jiang pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) and prosecuted by Ryan W. Bounds, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.