‘You’re Being Tracked,' Apple Warns Rioters Who Looted iPhone From US Stores

The United States of America is going through a tough time. While the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the nation is also experiencing grave civil unrest after police brutality took life of an innocent African-American man named George Floyd.

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Amidst this unrest, some people are being opportunistic and are creating chaos, looting stores and among this, Apple’s stores have also been impacted.?

Reports reveal that stores in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York were looted by protestors. Looking at the rising number of incidents, Apple has decided to shut down its stores in some locations, while also remove their stocks from stores and shutter locations.

Apple had recently reopened its stores in some location in the US after COVID-19 lockdown norms got eased a little.?

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Apple CEO Tim Cook, said regarding the civil unrest in the nation in a memo that was addressed to its employees (reported by Bloomberg) stating, “there is a pain deeply etched in the soul of our nation and in the hearts of millions. To stand together, we must stand up for one another, and recognize the fear, hurt, and outrage rightly provoked by the senseless killing of George Floyd and a much longer history of racism.”

He further stated, “at Apple, our mission has and always will be to create technology that empowers people to change the world for the better. We’ve always drawn strength from our diversity, welcomed people from every walk of life to our stores around the world, and strived to build an Apple that is inclusive of everyone.”

The looters will be tracked

In case the looters thought that they’ve got their hands on some expensive tech, that tech is going to be of no use to them as Apple has a track of all the devices looted from their store. And in case you didn’t know, Apple through its software has the ability to actually make the device turn into an expensive paperweight, rendering it completely useless.?

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When the looter tries to log in to the device it would block everything on the screen with the message, “This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.”

While sure, the looters won’t be nice enough to return the phones back to the store, chances are they might be stripped for parts, but not all would be able to do it. So people considering looting Apple stores, just don’t, unless you really want to get caught.?