Marketing junior Amanda LaPres didn’t feel a thing when her phone was taken from her back pocket.
While attending a party on the 200 block of Charles Street in September, a person snatched four iPhones, an iPod, a wallet and a passport and from LaPres and a few of her friends without being detected.
“It wasn’t forcibly at all, I didn’t even realize it happened,” LaPres said. “The fact that they did it very, very sneakily creeps me out.”
The iPhone, one of the most stolen items on the cell phone market, recently has become popular among alleged thieves in the East Lansing area.
The process of targeting and stealing iPhones from unsuspecting bystanders, known as “Apple picking,” is a phenomenon that’s caused some stir in the community.
Recent arrests throughout East Lansing have prompted both campus and city police to alert students to the issue.
MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said officers have arrested two suspects related to Apple picking in the past few weeks.
“We have had four reports of iPhone thefts to date,” McGlothian-Taylor said.
A recent statement issued by the East Lansing Police Department reported four Apple picking arrests made in late September and early October.
The department reminded students to be aware of their surroundings and keep valuable iPhones out of sight when not in use.
Local businesses that carry iPhones also are taking notice of the perceived rise in iPhone thefts around town.
Jolene Harris, the assistant manager of the Verizon Wireless carrier at 209 E. Grand River Ave., said many of the customers who come into the store are replacing stolen iPhones, a trend she thinks is on the rise.
“We see at least see a minimum of five a day in here stolen,” Harris said.
In some instances, Harris’s customers have experienced violent acts from the suspects Apple picking innocent victims.
One customer, Harris recalled, said she was using her cell phone at the Riverboat while waiting for friends in downtown Lansing when a group of men surrounded her and demanded she give them her iPhone.
“They knocked her down on the ground, started kicking her and she was screaming. When she realized that no one was going to help her, she gave them her cell phone,” Harris said.
The common resale of iPhones overseas can bring a profit almost double of what the full retail price in the US would be. Harris believes many stolen devices are sold internationally.
“They’re selling them anywhere from around $1,000 to $2,000,” Harris said.
The new iOS 7 update for Apple products might make it more difficult for prospective thieves to resell the popular devices, Genius Phone Repair store manager Jayson Vanderstel said.
“As far as Apple devices, it’s going to become more and more difficult for somebody to steal an iPhone and resell it as a stolen phone,” Vanderstel said.
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When someone purchases a new iPhone with iOS 7, a password and Apple ID is required for activation along with the installation of the Find My iPhone app.
If an iPhone were to be stolen, it would be more difficult to wipe the phone clean for resale.
Vanderstel warned that if an iPhone is stolen, it should be reported to the carrier immediately.
Fortunately for LaPres, the police were already at the party she was attending to check on a noise complaint and were able to track down the suspects.
“The boys who did this were caught in an alley two roads over and then one of them, while they were being questioned, dropped a phone out of his pants, and that gave the cops probable cause to then search them,” she said.
