The latest arrest in connection with traveling scams in Lake County centers around two men who were going from Apple store to Apple store across the country returning old cellphones for new ones, but a traffic stop near the Deer Park store this week tripped them up, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

"These suspects were going across the country committing this fraud," said sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli.

"They were using fake names to exchange the phones. The phones they would exchange would be so severely damaged, and in some cases SuperGlued to prevent staff from seeing the serial number to determine if the phone were stolen," he added. "They would then get a new refurbished phone, which they would sell for significant profit."

According to Covelli, a sheriff's deputy conducted a traffic stop Tuesday on a vehicle in the area of the Deer Park Town Center on Route 12 north of Lake Cook Road, where the sheriff's office has conducted increased patrols due to the Apple Store thefts.

The driver of the car, Mohammed Hosein, 23, of Detroit, said he and his passenger, Wen Jie Qin, 21, of San Francisco, just left the Apple Store after exchanging broken iPhones. Covelli said they were pulled over for a traffic infraction and the driver had a suspended driver's license.

"The alert sheriff's deputy, knowing there have been a number of fraudulent purchases at the Deer Park Apple Store, conducted additional investigation," Covelli said in a statement issued early Friday.

"After further investigation by sheriff's deputies and detectives, it was determined Hosein and Qin traveled to numerous Apple Stores across the United States and fraudulently obtained possession of numerous Apple iPhones," the statement added. "Over 100 Apple iPhones were recovered from Qin and Hosein, which they obtained fraudulently,".

The suspects' descriptions were similar, and one of the victims got a description of their vehicle, which was registered to a rental car company. According to police, they searched hotels in the area and found the rental car, learned what hotel room the suspects were in and made the arrests without incident.

"These rings travel all over the U.S., but the sheriff's office and Deer Park Apple Store have been working very diligently together to identify and arrest thieves," Covelli said Friday.

Source: chicagotribute