Burglars tunnel through Apple Store’s neighbor, allegedly steal $500K in iPhones

Breaking through an Apple Store's secured doors sounds like a tall order, even for ambitious burglars. But what if you didn't have to get through the Apple Store's doors after hours and could instead break into the unassuming store next to it? Tunneling into an Apple Store to steal an alleged $500,000 worth of iPhones sounds like something out of a (not particularly exciting) heist movie. But as the gaping hole in the espresso machine store Seattle Coffee Gear's bathroom will tell you, this is no Ocean's Eleven.

As reported by Seattle's King 5 News on Tuesday, two people allegedly broke into Lynnwood, Washington's Seattle Coffee Gear before creating a large opening in the store's bathroom wall, which connects to the neighboring Apple Store's backroom.

Mike Atkinson, CEO of Seattle Coffee Gear, said on Twitter that surveillance footage shows the two perpetrators getting in and out "in under 15 minutes."

He also shared an image depicting the mess the crew allegedly left behind in the Seattle Coffee Gear's bathroom:

Police told King 5 News that 436 iPhones were stolen for an estimated loss of $500,000.

Replacing Seattle Coffee Gear's locks reportedly cost nearly $900, and the coffee appliance store expects bathroom repairs to cost $600 to $800.

The speed and detailed execution of this theft has some, like Atkinson, suspecting this was an inside job. In an interview with King 5 News, regional retail manager Eric Marks said the perpetrators even cut through the bathroom wall without hitting any pipes.

Marks said no employees were inside the Apple or Seattle Coffee Gear stores when the crime allegedly occurred.

The Alderwood Mall, where the stores are located, told King 5 News that it's working with police. Apple didn't respond to King 5 News' request for comment and hasn't historically commented on store thefts.

Other memorable iHeists

iPhones have long been theft targets, but this instance, in particular, seems more planned out than average and is connected to a huge amount of loot.

By contrast, other cases of late have sought to take advantage of Apple Stores' lax physical security on display devices, with masked and/or hooded thieves simply snatching iPhones off tables in front of customers and employees.

One of the most brazen examples came in 2022, when two people snatched a reported $35,000 worth of merchandise from an Apple Store in Palo Alto, California, during the daytime on Black Friday. As you might expect, the store was packed with people with camera-equipped phones, and footage quickly found its way to the Internet:

 

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We've also seen the same Apple Stores targeted repeatedly, such as a Berkeley, California, store that was hit three times in nine days in 2016, and a San Francisco-based one that saw two hits in four days, including one that took only 12 seconds.

An Apple Store doesn't even have to be in business to become a target. In August 2022, local authorities reported that four people stole more than 220 phones, 200 Apple Watches, and 50 AirPods from a The Woodlands, Texas-based store before it opened up for its first customer, as reported by ABC 13 News. 

And while $500,000 is one of the largest dollar amounts we've seen associated with a single Apple Store heist, there have been allegations of $1 million schemes. In 2018, 17 people were arrested and charged with robbing Apple Stores across 19 California counties of over $1 million.

Many will point out that Apple is able to lock stolen products remotely, but that doesn't seem to stop people from taking extreme measures to get a five-finger discount.