iPhone Resellers Battle Fraud
Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 29, 2008
I just talked to a New York-based reseller of unlocked iPhones, and he gave me some very interesting statistics: Two out of 10 people who order iPhones from him try to use stolen credit cards or invalid accounts.
When it comes to purchases of devices by other manufacturers, such as Samsung and Nokia, rates of fraud are much lower, standing at around one out of 100 to 200, says Shawn Zade, senior sales associate at Wireless Imports, which sells between 500 and 1,000 iPhones a month. As a result, he now requires customers to submit copies of their driver’s licenses and other information to verify their idenities.
Zade thinks fraud rates are this high because the gadget is so hip and so popular, and everybody wants it. Alas, peddling hot sellers is not all it’s been made out to be.
