Apple scammed out of 9,000 shuffles

Looks like Mike Teevee kept busy after visiting Mr. Wonka's factory. Somehow a guy in Kalamazoo, Michigan figured out a sequence of 9,000 iPod shuffle serial numbers, rang up Apple and promptly requested 9,000 "replacements." Apple shipped him the units, and he promptly sold them below MSRP to a bunch of very happy and blissfully ignorant customers. Needless to say, Mr. Teevee (real name Nicholas Arthur Woodhams) will be visiting Mr. Wonka's prison next.

The scam worked for long enough to acquire over 9,000 shuffles, Macworld reports, because of Apple's return policy. Woodhams also used a prepaid VISA gift card and a UPS store mailbox to work his magic. Clever, but how long did he think this would last?

[Via Engadget and Macworld]

Special note for purists: I spelled Teevee without the "a" as I am referencing Mike's numerical prowess in the 2005 movie adaptation, not the original character from the Dahl novel or 1971 film. Thanks for noticing.

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Looks like Mike Teevee kept busy after visiting Mr. Wonka's factory. Somehow a guy in Kalamazoo, Michigan figured out a sequence of 9,000...

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Eugeniu

Oh, hello. Yes, I bought 9,000 iPod shuffles the other day, but none of them seem to work. Can you send me 9.000 replacement iPods without me sending any of mine in? Thanks!

March 29 2009 at 2:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

demonic_pascal

ITS OVER 9000!!!!!

sorry...I had to...

March 23 2009 at 3:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to demonic_pascal's comment

eatmoreramen

DAMN IT! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ENTER THAT!!!!

March 23 2009 at 6:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

badtzmaru

Speaking of the shuffle, itunes just informed me of a software update! something about bugs.

March 23 2009 at 1:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

balls

Didn't something similar happen a while back with a different apple device?

March 23 2009 at 12:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SpyBoyCH

speaking of stealing apple products, I'm still trying to figure this one out. http://www.iboostintl.com/display.asp?CategoryID=1987

This company is selling products that look suspiciously like apple products. I suspect they are buying them from the same manufacturer and loading them with only generic software.

Anyone have any ideas?

March 23 2009 at 12:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Darren

The Shuffle has always been just a marketing gimmick, and the new model just reenforces that idea. No body needs their MP3 player to be a small as a stick of Trident Gum.

As long as these stolen Shuffles make their way into the hands of people who can be tempted to buy real iPods in the future, then it's no loss for Apple.

March 23 2009 at 12:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

brian

i still dont understand the wonka reference.

March 23 2009 at 12:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to brian's comment

SpyBoyCH

the wonka reference is simple. in the book/original movie, the kids are all approached by a man ,Oscar Slugworth, a competitor (actually a wonka employee posing as a competitor) and asks them to steal wonka's formulas.

March 23 2009 at 12:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Victor Agreda, Jr.

In the latest movie Mike Teevee uses several economic indexes and some statistical reasoning to determine where he could purchase a Wonka bar with a golden ticket.

Hence, one could discern the pattern used to generate the serial numbers. Except somehow this guy "guessed" them. Perhaps I should have referenced Uri Geller instead!

March 23 2009 at 2:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

waiownsyou

Nice Apple Remote you got there.

March 23 2009 at 11:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply