The men kept a ledger with detailed codes of more than 5,000 devices – some were then used to make high street purchases, while most are thought to have been sold overseas, ITV News’
Owners were robbed of their phones in the capital and the gang used them to steal thousands of pounds from bank accounts.
Prosecutors believe the group made around £650,000 from selling the phones, and said the total cost to the consumer – assuming all the phones were bought new – comes to up to £5.1 million over the group’s 18-month stint handling the stolen smartphones.
Victims used Find My iPhone software to track their stolen phones to addresses where the defendants lived.
The gang didn’t just sell on the stolen devices, but also used the phones to drain victims’ bank accounts.
The men were convicted of a variety of offences, including handling stolen goods, committing fraud by false representation and possessing control ID documents with improper intention.
The judge said Zakaria Sanidjki, 31, was “the one who was playing the lead on this very serious offending”, and he received an eight-year sentence.
