29-5-023 (SINGAPORE) In a landmark ruling on Monday (May 29), a Malaysian man, Lim Jen Hee, was found guilty of conspiring with a logistics manager, Serene Ng Shu Kian, to carry out a large-scale theft of iPhones. The stolen devices, totaling more than 25,000 units, were intended for repair but instead ended up being sold on the black market, resulting in losses of approximately US$5 million (S$6.8 million) for the company involved.
Lim, 51, had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiring with Ng to commit criminal breach of trust by misappropriating the iPhones. However, the judge ultimately deemed him guilty on both counts after finding Ng to be a trustworthy and credible witness.
The case against Lim unfolded after Ng, who had already been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in 2021 for her role in the crime, testified against him during the trial. Both Ng and Lim were former employees of Pegatron Service Singapore, a company responsible for repairing defective iPhones on behalf of Apple.
Lim, previously an assistant operations manager at the company, carried out the offenses between January 2018 and May 2019, following his resignation. Ng, in her capacity as a logistics manager, oversaw the process of receiving defective iPhones from Apple, as well as its service providers and retailers. The phones were then inspected and repaired by the production team, before being returned to the service providers or retailers through the logistics department.
If a phone proved irreparable, it was either kept by the production team for further examination or sent to Apple’s designated warehouse vendor, Schenker Singapore, for scrapping, dismantling, or repair by an alternative service provider.
Ng began exploiting a loophole in Apple’s and Pegatron’s systems in late 2017. As part of her role, she had the authority to manually write off a phone from Apple’s inventory system. However, she realized that Apple and Pegatron did not verify whether the written-off phone had actually reached Schenker.
Exploiting this flaw, Ng falsely indicated that a phone had been delivered when it had not, enabling her to sell the devices without raising suspicion. Lim, on the other hand, found a buyer overseas who was willing to purchase the defective iPhones. He communicated the details of the transactions to Ng, who arranged for the phones to be packed and shipped to Malaysia.
In the event that any of the phones were rejected by the buyer, Ng had them redirected to her residence in Singapore, ensuring their return to Pegatron without detection.
The illicit scheme resulted in substantial profits for the duo, with Ng earning over S$3.1 million and Lim pocketing between S$2.2 million and S$2.9 million. Lim utilized the funds for personal expenses and legal fees.
The crimes came to light when Apple conducted a surprise audit in May 2019, uncovering a significant number of missing phones. As part of the contractual agreement, Pegatron was obligated to compensate Apple between US$150 and US$250 for each misappropriated phone. Consequently, Pegatron paid Apple a total of US$5.05 million as restitution.
Lim’s sentencing will take place at a later date, following the conclusion of the trial.
