Talk about an ironic twist. Even as Apple (AAPL) was being lambasted daily in Chinese state-run media for what was being portrayed as unfair iPhone return policies, the company was investigating a ring of Chinese scammers taking advantage of those same policies to rip the company off.
这则消息颇具讽刺性。一方面,中国官方媒体每天针对所谓歧视性的iPhone手机售后政策对苹果(Apple)口诛笔伐,与此同时,苹果公司则正在调查一个中国诈骗团伙。他们利用了苹果的维修政策暗中牟利。
According to a report Monday in The Register, five employees at an electronics store selling Apple goods were arrested in Wenzhou, China, after they submitted 121 fake iPhone 4S "BAND parts" (it's not clear if these are modem assemblies or motherboards or what) to Apple, claiming they were defective and needed replacing. Apparently the scammers would buy a back cover, battery, and other components, re-assemble the device and sell it as a new iPhone.
据英国科技网站The Register周一报道,中国温州一家销售苹果产品的电子商店有五名员工被捕。据报道,这五名员工以有故障需要更换为由,向苹果公司提交了121部假冒的iPhone 4S手机“BAND配件”(BAND为厂家专业术语,指整机除电池、后盖外的其余部分——译注。目前尚不清楚这些BAND是调制解调器配件还是主板)。很明显,这个诈骗团伙购买后盖、电池和其他组件后,经过重新组装就可以当作全新的iPhone销售。
"It took Apple over a month to spot the scam," The Register's Phil Muncaster reports, "after which the owner of the store in question was informed and an investigation begun. On April 1 police finally cuffed a shop engineer and her boyfriend as the ringleaders."
The Register的菲利•蒙卡斯特报道称:“苹果花了一个多月的时间才发现这起诈骗。之后,苹果公司通知店铺老板开始展开调查。4月1日,警方最终抓获了本案的主犯——商店的一位女性工程师及其男友。”
As it turns out, the arrest took place the same day Tim Cook issued an apology to Apple's Chinese customers and changed the company's return policy, guaranteeing that any iPhone 4 and 4S brought in for repair under warranty in China would be replaced with new (not refurbished) parts.
就在诈骗团伙被摧毁的当天,蒂姆•库克向苹果的中国用户致歉,同时修改了公司的保修政策,保证在中国符合保修政策的iPhone 4与4S,在维修时均将更换全新(而非翻新)配件。