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A woman in East China’s Anhui Province drew wide attention on Fri after
saying she had received a package with only a box of yogurt inside after
buying an iPhone online. In a video spread on Weibo on Friday,
the woman surnamed Liu said she spent 10,099 yuan ($1,563) to buy an
iPhone 12 Pro Max (256G) on Apple’s official website on February 16,
only to receive a package with a box of apple-flavored yogurt inside two
days later. Liu said she didn’t directly get the package from
the courier. “The courier said he put the package in a parcel locker in
my residential community, and I didn’t [complain],” she said in the
video. Local police said on Thursday that Liu’s case appeared to
be one of theft. Earlier, both Apple and Express Mail Service (EMS) – a
courier company under China Post that delivered Liu’s package – told Liu
that they are launching an investigation. An EMS customer
service staffer told the Global Times on Friday that the incident is
still under investigation. “We have appointed colleagues to specially
deal with it,” she said. Apple gave a similar response, saying the
investigation is still ongoing. Liu’s experience sparked heated
discussion on Chinese social media on Friday, with many Weibo users
guessing at the possible wrongdoers behind the case. “I think it
might be courier company employees who replaced the iPhone,” wrote a
Weibo user. He added that he had a similar experience days earlier – he
received an empty shoe box after buying a pair of limited-edition shoes
on Nike’s official shopping site. Some users guessed that Liu
bought her iPhone from a fake site instead of Apple’s official one.
“There are many copycat shopping sites,” one user wrote. Legal
expert Zhang Bo didn’t rule out this possibly, saying that it may turn
into an organized fraud case if Liu spent the money on a scam website
that is disguised as Apple’s “official” site. Other possibilities
include a mistake with the packaging or the possibility that someone
stealthily substituted the iPhone during the delivery process, Zhang
said. “If it was the Apple staffers mistakenly sending a wrong
item, Liu can ask Apple to compensate her and give her a new iPhone,”
Zhang told the Global Times on Friday. “If it was someone intentionally
taking the iPhone away during the delivery, the person responsible would
face punishment.” Zhang also suggested online shoppers like Liu
should be more cautious and protect themselves from possible financial
losses. “Double check whether it is a legal and formal website before
paying, and open the package when the courier is there,” he said. “Call
the police as soon as possible if there’s something wrong.”
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