What you need to know

  • Apple store thieves have struck again, this time in San Mateo, California.
  • They broke into an Apple store and stole 40 products.
  • Police located their car and gave chase but lost them in San Francisco.

Apple stores continue to be the target of thieves looking to make a quick buck. Earlier this week, thieves broke into an Australian Apple store and stole $200,000 worth of iPhones. The latest case of thievery took place stateside in San Mateo, California.

According to the East Bay Times, authorities were alerted at 9:01 p.m. on September 5 that a robbery was taking place at an Apple store in San Mateo, California. Police arrived two minutes later but the thieves had already left the scene.

The thieves basically had the same plan in place as other Apple store robbers: smash the front glass panel and grab as many valuable items as they can carry.

Witnesses say they saw the suspects escape in a white sedan. Police then spotted the car and gave chase on the Interstate 101 highway heading up to San Francisco. However, near the Bay Bridge, they lost sight of the car and the thieves escaped.

They got away with 40 Apple products. No word on if the stolen products were iPhones, iPads or Macs.

As Cult of Mac notes, Apple has tried to sway thieves from stealing its devices by instituting software that locks down the devices, making them worthless. Or so goes the reasoning. These devices are likely being sold for spare parts, creating a way of getting value out of them.

For now, Apple stores remains high atop thieves' list of locations to hit up given the valuebles they hold.