A Reddit user recently stated that he ordered a basic Mac mini from Apple's official website in March this year, but the device was stolen shortly after delivery. Surprisingly, the stolen device later appeared in the Facebook Marketplace sales information. The photo posted by the seller not only clearly captured the serial number on the product packaging, but also captured its vehicle and identifiable license plate number in another product information.
This Mac mini is a basic product equipped with an M4 chip, priced at US$599. Due to the recent tight supply of related consumer electronics products, especially the basic model, the impact was more obvious. Apple gave a delivery cycle of about 4 weeks at the time. Coincidentally, the equipment happened to be shipped while the buyer was out of town for two days.
Since the buyer lives in an apartment building, there are usually many problems with package delivery, so he asked a friend to check and pick up the package on his behalf. But about 5 hours after the system showed "delivered", when my friend went to check, the package was gone. Follow-up information showed that FedEx did not place the package at the user's door, but placed it in a public area near the mailbox outside the apartment building. Anyone could access the package, although there was an obvious sign saying "Do not leave packages here."
After discovering that the package was missing, Apple accepted the relevant complaints and agreed to reissue a new device to the user without setting too many obstacles. However, because the model was out of stock at the time, buyers may have to wait until June to receive replacement products.
The turn of events occurred after the buyer told his boss what had happened. Since his boss has dealt with similar "package theft" incidents before, he regularly browses related product information on Facebook Marketplace. Soon after, the boss sent a link to a Mac mini for sale and asked if it matched the stolen item. After checking it, the buyer found that it was a brand new Mac mini, and in the picture uploaded by the seller, the serial number on the outer packaging of the product was clearly visible.
The buyer immediately checked his order invoice and contacted Apple for further confirmation, ultimately confirming that this was the device he had stolen previously. What’s even more dramatic is that on the seller’s other product pages, there is also a product picture with a photo of the vehicle, and the license plate number is also not blocked. The buyer then went to the parking lot of his apartment to check and found a vehicle and license plate that were exactly the same as those in the photo, which also led him to suspect that the person who stole the package probably lived in the same building.
At present, the buyer has reported the case to the police and submitted relevant evidence including serial number matching information, platform sales page and license plate information. At the same time, the building management has also stepped in to investigate as a number of packages have reportedly gone missing from the apartment building in the past few months. TechSpot reported that this incident may eventually help residents identify the suspect who has been stealing packages in the building for a long time, and the suspect's attempt to sell the stolen goods through Facebook Marketplace was also described as "not clever."