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Did Apple Impersonate Police To Recover the Lost iPhone 5?
zacharye writes "This whole lost iPhone 5 prototype story just got whole lot more interesting. According to SF Weekly, six investigators claiming to be members of the San Francisco police department descended upon one Bernal Heights, San Francisco man's home in search of a lost iPhone 5 prototype that CNET originally reported had been left in a bar. The scary part? The SFPD does not seem to be aware of such an investigation. Instead, it appears as though they may have actually been members of Apple's security team allegedly impersonating police officers."
So far this claim seems to be developing solely through media communications; in order for the SFPD to start an investigation, the man whose house was searched would need to speak with the police directly. Update: 09/03 12:14 GMT by S : A later report indicates police were present, but they stood outside while Apple employees searched the house. No police report was filed because Apple wanted it kept a secret.
The San Francisco police and Apple lads at odds? I foresee a Sissy Boy Slap Party!
Trolling is a art,
Ha, the San Francisco Police Department WISHES they were as powerful as Apple security. Half the security guys at Apple have licenses to kill, and a pretty good portion of them are ninjas.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
This is hilarious! Why do they give out these phones anyway? Besides, Apple is a religion. The security team should have impersonated priests to get the phone back.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
There's a reason the SFPD doesn't know about it. It never happened. The entire incident, from the loss to the "search" is a story designed to generate hype for the iPhone 5.
iPigs
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Actually they usually go with hired private security for things like this.
"FBI style raids"? seriously, lose the drama.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
- this Apple employee "lost" an iPhone5 at a bar
- this undercover Apple employee "found it" and listed it on craigslist
- this undercover Apple employee bought it for $200
- this Apple employee in a uniform picked it up
- the whole internet ran wee-wee-wee silliness about it
It's all part of the hype machine's advertising campaign. You guys have all been fooled.
He's claiming that they said they were SFPD. If they said that, or even suggested it, then there's a strong claim for criminal trespass. Privilege to enter a house cannot be gained through deception.
Sadly, this is just a small hint of what's to come. I don't expect anything other than full-on corporate armies, each waging espionage and intellectual (and other) warfare against one another, to be the future of the US. Get used to it. Soon Apples Security team WILL be the police dept. :(
(and every other company with the money/man-power).
The number they gave him was of an Apple employee whose title is "senior investigator" and who previously worked for the San Jose PD.
Maybe they were real cops. Maybe he called in an unofficial favor...
The guy admits he was at Cava. Just how did Apple find his house?
Sure, the fake cop thing is troubling.
But still, how did Apple discover the location of some random guy who had drinks at Cava?
Apple == BAD? Maybe.
But one wonders if in fact this random guy who had drinks at Cava was in fact at one time had the stolen/ lost phone?
Otherwise, how would Apple Thugs found his address?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Did they have Don Johnson with them?
That would have convinced me they were legit too...
Sure it can. The police do it all the time.
You mean other than talking to the actual SFPD that does indeed have a report of the incident? That and calling the number the man was given and finding out it goes to Apple security.
Well if they searched the house, as the summary suggests, then it goes a LONG way past mistaking private security for police.
In this day and age, who is smart enough to pick up a lost phone in a bar and then try to sell it superstitiously and is still to dumb to tell a real cop from a rent-a-cop?
Not saying I believe any part of this story. The entire thing may be made from whole cloth since precisely one guy (Sergio Calderon, 22) is making this claim with nothing to back it up except a phone number that could easily be found via other means. (No business card, just a phone number).
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Here's what they look like: http://i.imgur.com/CmLXu.jpg
crazy dynamite monkey
Its a big old marketing ploy. Thumbs down.
Or is it more likely that rather than having a company commit very-easily-provable felonies, the person who claims he was "raided by Apple security pretending to be cops" is just plain lying, and that he dug up Apple security's phone somewhere to attempt to lend credibility to an otherwise unbelievable story?
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
so who will take the fall for this?
I wish he'd leave Buttons alone, if it weren't for him, Mindy would certainly be crushed by a steamroller or fall off the Eiffel Tower.
It is possible, but surely that would come out pretty quickly when the actual SFPD has a look. If he was just looking for some publicity, you might think he would call CNET, but NOT the actual police.
Why?
Most states and cities have laws against impersonating a police officer.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
A number of police departments in my area permit moonlighting by their cops. In some cases, this just means security in front of the local dance club. But some of them make pretty good coin working security for local companies or detective agencies.
Those may have been real stinkin' badges.
Have gnu, will travel.
It only matters whether they had a search warrant. If so, it was legal. Search warrants do not have to be served by the police force having jurisdiction over the property being searched. For search warrants, it's the jurisdiction of the judge signing it that matters, so a California state judge can't issue a warrant for a property in New Jersey, for example. And if the guy didn't ask to see the search warrant, he made a big mistake.
It doesn't matter whether they were SFPD. They could have been a nearby police force such as South San Francisco (a separate city), or any number of other nearby city police forces, or county sheriff's deputies, or they could have been one of the task forces set up to combat computer crime in the Bay Area, or they could have been a federal agency.
My best guess (and only a guess) was that it was the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team that operates out of offices in Campbell, CA. They have state-wide jurisdiction.
Clueless article, repeated by clueless Slashdot editor.
Assuming that the story is true. I've read that the lost phone and raid was a hoax. So when reporters ask SFPD about the raid, they had no clue about it. Which then lead to accusations that Apple lied about being police officers. Of course my Internet sources could be wrong. They also told me CmdrTaco WAS Steve Jobs.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10
of course anything can fly given enough thrust
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
It seems pretty unlikely, since Apple would know that the story would get out and they already know that an iPhone prototype loose in the wild is pretty decent publicity, so it's a very stupid idea. Still, if they actually did it, I think it's likely that it will not be cheap at all, and I think they'll deserve everything they get for pulling such a stunt.
It probably even won't be cheap if it's Apple pulling a hoax. It seems a lot more likely that it's a blogger or other attention-seeker out to generate press for some reason. Hopefully they won't be hard on him.
If true, I absolutely agree.
However, it must be understood that many of Apple's competitors spend massive amounts of money to smear Apple (and each other).
As far as what we *know*:
- Some media outlets are claiming there was a stolen iPhone prototype. The details are frankly shaky enough as it is - the only "lead" is the bar owner claims that he was contacted by someone claiming to be Apple security.
- A couple of people are claiming that a group impersonating the police searched a guy's home, looking for an iPhone.
Here's the thing: I've learned to be more than a little leery about press reports about any company, because "the competition" is always ready & willing to smear each other. The details are so sparse as to make it sound more than a little fishy.
All anyone has to do is:
- Pick a bar
- Follow a mark. Preferably somebody the public would be "sympathetic" towards.
- Contact the bar, claim to be from Apple, and claim there was a lost phone.
- Send a crew out to the mark's home, and impersonate the police department.
It's cheap, low risk of ever being caught, and pays off big. Classic mudslinging.
Who would stand to gain? Any of Apple's competitors, anybody who wants to short Apple stock, a news outlet with a grudge against Apple... there are more than a few options.
The more I think of it, more it sounds like a smear campaign. Apple has far too much to lose, and they aren't idiots. Apple is quite conscious of how closely their every move is watched.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
Non-cops, ex-cops, bad guys -- impersonating an officer has gone on forever, especially among detectives and security guys. You almost have to give ex-cops a break, acting coplike is probably a tough habit to break.
Generally speaking, white, middle class people do exactly what they're told when a "cop" tells them what to do.
I did a ride-along with a friend who is a cop and it was almost hilarious. Upstanding white people did EXACTLY what I suggested, in a "Is-this-OK?" manner, despite the fact that the cop was in uniform and I wore civilian clothes.
You don't look where real bubble is. Apple P/E is misleading at best. Their market cap relies on inflated profits - mostly from iPhone and iTab 'luxury' products with monopoly-like profit margins on both. Take these margins away (hello, Android) and it will pop. With $350B invested into their stock it is clearly visible why not only Apple but half of Wall Street fights teeth and nails with commodization in this area in general and Google/Android in particular.
Just stand closer to your monitor. Or if your problem is having tiny Tyrannosaurus Rex arms, maybe get a couple of these Reacher with Magnetic Tip.
Things will get closer. Just don't freak out man!
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
... If he was just looking for some publicity, you might think he would call CNET, but NOT the actual police.
which, of course, is exactly what happened... Which is probably why the police are saying they're not going to do diddly squat until he gets in touch with them *himself*.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Apple would have sent around an internal email asking employees to stop bringing unreleased phones to bars or even leaving company property with them. Almost like they want these stories to get out ...
I agree it sounds setup.
But, Apple *might* want to get it back without police intervention because it makes Apple look a bit clueless, letting their employees lose prototypes multiple times.
My inclination is to think one of these two possibilities:
1. CalderÃn made the whole thing up, Apple has no involvement. CalderÃn thinks he can squeeze money out of Apple or potential media outlets that pay for stories (Gawker clearly pays for stories).
2. Apple made it all up, and CalderÃn is on the payroll.
The fact that neither CalderÃn or Apple has called the cop in officially is quite telling.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I know you used a subject of "If this is true", but I'm going to save my outrage until some facts rise to the surface here.
If this actually involved another iphone N prototype, the whole "lost iphone in a bar" shtick is played out. I'm surprised that tactic would be used again (and I'm making a cynical assumption that the original incident with N=4 was a ruse).
If the person contacted by the "police" was threatened or upset, let him file a complaint and come out in a more official way. Did people actually come to his house, and did they actually claim they were SFPD?
My conclusion so far is this whole story is bull.
"They also told me CmdrTaco WAS Steve Jobs."
No, no. Hemos is Steve Jobs.
CmdrTaco has been Bill Gates all along and this was just a covert operation to muddy the water.
If the homeowner let a bunch of asshats into their house to perform a search without a warrant signed by a judge
Badge or no badge
The owner is an idiot.
Only someone *dumb enough* to pick up a lost phone and try to sell it, wouldn't be able to tell the difference....
Do your parents know what's wrong with you?
no, they don't care about you
San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that "three or four" SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials
So, now we can stop with the Apple FUD, right?
[citation needed]
From TFA:
"This is something that's going to need to be investigated now," SFPD spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield said, when informed about the Bernal Heights man's statements to SF Weekly. "If this guy is saying that the people said they were SFPD, that's a big deal."
And a little further down:
Dangerfield said police plan to look into Calderón's allegations. "There's something amiss here. If we searched someone's house, there would be a police report," Dangerfield said.
The SFPD has already admitted that they did indeed go to this house. This is a lot to do about absolutely nothing.
Link
Darn it. /. ate my reply...
Citation supplied, from the *same* FA:
"Troy Dangerfield of the SFPD called to clarify his above statements: The police will only investigate if Calderón chooses to speak with them directly and share information about the people who came to his house. (So far, the SFPD has not spoken to Calderón, but only learned of his story through SF Weekly.)"
Also, (in fairness, probably after you posted the above), it's all irrelevant now - since (again, from the same FA) "Update (3:25 p.m.): Police now say they did assist Apple security with the home search of a Bernal Heights man"
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
The police did just about nothing. I called Sprint and after 30 minutes of being bounced around, I was given the last number the phone had called. It was a 30 minute call to an out of state number. I called that number myself. It was the perps father. He claimed his son called him and said he was using a friends phone. I called the police and they took a report. They called the father and he said his son never had my missing phone, he was using a friends phone. Police told me the did not have enough evidence to continue on and there was nothing else they could do.
Short story, the common man is a bother to local police, bug business is not.
What. The. Fuck.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18816728
After first telling this newspaper that it could find no record of its officers taking part in the search, SFPD on Friday acknowledged its personnel had gone to the house, but said only Apple employees went inside to search.
this is wrong in so many ways. I wonder if SFPD can be sued.. while the search wasn't conducted by LE (therefore technically no illegal search) - they were there which implies (to the resident) this is a sanctioned police action.
The SFPD also said they did not go INSIDE the house. And the Apple employees who went inside, never said anything about them not being part of SFPD, so I think it's totally possible for the guy to think they were SFPD too. A bunch of guys come to your house, one guy says "SFPD" and then a couple of guys go in, I think it's reasonable for him to assume they're all SFPD, since you know, they came together, and acting as if they're all one group. But don't let little factoids come in the way of defending the borg.
I'm much more funny, interesting and insightful than the moderators think
I see the problem, the version I read didn't have any of the updates, including the ones you quoted. So it was a *different* *same* FA. They need version numbers if they're going to do that.
The fully updated version is little better though, it just implicates the SF detectives as well. They have no business passing private security off as fellow SF detectives and allowing them to search someone's house (or fior that matter, taking civillians along on a search in the first place). If the immigration threats and such are even partially true, it's even worse.
Coming in a distant third, I wouldn't trust the GPS on a new iPhone very much :-)
But don't let little factoids come in the way of defending the borg.
You keep using that word...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid
"A factoid is a questionable or spurious—unverified, incorrect, or fabricated—statement presented as a fact, but with no veracity."
[UID-HeinzIntel]
The SFPD has already admitted that they did indeed go to this house. This is a lot to do about absolutely nothing.
Link
If by "absolutely nothing" you mean "a fourth amendment violation", then I concur.
Hmmmm, nothing to see here, move along
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
When public resources, such as the time and attention of the police officers, are used for private benefit, whether Apple's or any other organization or individual, it should never, ever be allowed to be "... kept a secret."
Cops have special status in my state 24x7, on duty or off. What you might be thinking about is their right to search and seize evidence. Cops don't have that right either on the job or off unless they are carrying a warrant, issued by a court. But if they pound on the door and verbally bully someone into handing something over, they aren't necessarily abusing their cop powers.
Have gnu, will travel.
I'm not entirely sure what sort of smear campaigns against apple, to which you refer. If you read the link the SFPD admitted having officers stand outside, after they contacted Apple.
I also agree that the story sounds fishy, but the simplest explanation isn't, someone fabricated this story, hired an ex-cop to pose as Apple security, tracked the "missing phone" down to a vicinity, and tossed the house, all under the guise of smearing Apple, all with the SFPD overlooking.
The fishy part, if true, would be that Apple has secret police that have free reign.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia