Scheme to snag iPhones leads to chaos in Calif.

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - An overnight campout for the new iPhone turned chaotic Friday morning when two men were arrested for fighting outside an Apple Store and a man's plan to hire homeless people to wait in line for the coveted devices backfired, authorities said.

Dozens of people recruited at a downtown Los Angeles homeless shelter to buy iPhones in bulk at a Pasadena store were left unpaid, and they mobbed the man who had hired them, Pasadena police Lt. Jason Clawson said.

One of the homeless men was placed on a 72-hour mental health hold after running into the street in an enraged state, Clawson said. Television news footage showed police breaking up several scuffles and calming down furious customers.

Dominoe Moody, 43, told the Los Angeles Times he was driven the 10 miles or so to Pasadena from Los Angeles with several vanloads of people to wait in line overnight.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130920/DA8UBSUG2.html

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Pasadena Police officer M. Chavarin guards the front of the Apple store in Pasadena, Calif., as customers wait in line for the latest versions of the iPhone during the opening day of sales of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5C, Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. An overnight campout for the new iPhone turned chaotic Friday morning when two men were arrested for fighting outside the store, and a man's plan to hire homeless people to wait in line for the coveted devices backfired, authorities said. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

[gopiscrap]

1. This is one example of our sick society

fuck stuff...think about people for a change...bunch of God damn materialists. The guy who hired those people needs to be jailed.

[1000words]

4. Precisely my thought

We are extremely unwell.

[Dash87]

2. Bunch of idiots.

You can get it 2 weeks from now and not even have to camp out.

[7962]

11. THANK YOU!!!! Gee, you think they'll make MORE if they run out?

Its not like waiting in line for a concert ticket, thats a finite number. I never could understand this stuff. "Idiots", as you said, is always what pops into mind first. Games, books, phones, etc. They will always make more.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

3. That store

and that block are always heavily trafficked, and to carry out this crazy scheme is unspeakably stupid and dangerous. Makes me sick.

[TeamPooka]

5. the iPhone 5450

[Vashta Nerada]

6. iSheep

Exploiting the homeless so they can get their overpriced piece of crap.

SMH.

[LiberalArkie]

7. So they could sell them on ebay for $1500

[Bigredhunk]

8. Exactly

You know it was all about flipping them for profit.

[NBachers]

9. Sure hope they don't eat his brains

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Watch this one for follow up

It is going to turn into a First Party fraud scam as it develops.

Here's what I've seen in my work - they hire homeless people with ID ans Social Security cards to go in and get the credit for the family share. The peron gets the phones and delivers them immediately to the person who recruited them - often only getting a few hundred bucks for a few grand in cost of goods phones.

The tip off was a homeless gentleman this summer who called the police (basically turning himself in) because the recruiter never paid him. Pasadena has a been an area where we saw a lot of this via the Apple Stores and Apple.com