Various owners of Apple iPhones that had their devices stolen in São Paulo were surprised when looking for devices with the Buscar (Find My) service and came across the same address, located in the region of Crackland.
According to information on the MacMagazine website, the stolen handsets ended up at an establishment called Coopertel Administração e Comércio dePhones, at Rua Guaianases, 67, in the region known as Cracolândia, in the capital of São Paulo.
In 2021, an iPhone owned by journalist Rosana Hermann was also stolen and ended up on Rua Guaianases. Looking for more on the subject at the time, she found reports from 2017 about similar cases, in which stolen devices end up in this region.
After a long investigation, the Sao Paulo Civil Police performed an operation in March of this year on site, resulting in the arrest of five people (all foreigners) and the arrest of 53 cell phonesin addition to notebooks and other devices.
According to the São Paulo Civil Police, the devices are stolen from drivers stopped in traffic or people in busy spots. They are then offered to receivers through messaging applications and the delivery is made at various points in the city.
The value charged for stolen devices draws attention. An iPhone 11for example, has the price of R$ 400, where it doesn’t come out for less than R$ 2,800 in regularized retail, while a iPhone 13 Pro Max is sold by the criminals for BRL 1,800.
The police did not detail whether the devices are still reused by other people, given that these devices are often blocked by victims of theft/robbery. See, below, the amounts charged by some models of iPhones:
(updated on Apr 13, 2023 at 1:58 am)