iPhone Thieves Getting Help From Apple Support, Employees Not Aware

The iPhone is a very desirable gadget and something that people hold very near and dear. Some people will even wait days in line for the new one. Being that they’re highly regarded, that also means that thieves have their eyes on them.

In fact, just wearing the signature white iPod earbuds gives a thief the idea that you potentially have a valuable device in your pocket. One issue that’s been sprouting up with people stealing the smartphone, is that Apple support is unknowingly helping them.

The company relies off of the honor system and that’s definitely evident when taking the device into an Apple store where employees will help diagnose any problems, even repair the phone, long as it’s still under warranty, without needing much information.

Reuters has a story about one such issue:

“MIT graduate student Kayla Menard is among those who wants her voice to be heard screaming. She was sending a text from her 3-month-old iPhone while waiting for a train at Boston’s Park Street Station last month when someone snatched it from her hand and ran.”

“Days later she received an automated email that her damaged phone was repaired at an Apple Store. She went to the store to try to get back her phone, but they wouldn’t hand it over to her, and she was told there was nothing they could do. “Because I don’t have possession of the phone, they won’t help me at all,” she says.”

“Menard says she was astonished to find out that Apple wouldn’t help, even though they had her phone. Because someone else had brought in the phone, she was told, the store could not return it to her. She says she believes the thief was sold a new phone at a discount.”

Apple declined to comment on the whole ordeal, but it seems to be a real problem. What would you do if someone stole your iPhone?