He bought stolen iPhones for cheap at NC store — then resold them overseas, feds say
The owner of a Charlotte store selling Boost Mobile products and clothing made a name for himself buying stolen electronics and reselling them overseas, according to prosecutors.
Now he’s facing federal charges.
Rami Mahmod Mhana is accused of buying stolen iPhones, iPads and other devices at below-retail cost before shipping them off to Hong Kong, China and the United Arab Emirates for a profit. A grand jury indicted the 45-year-old on Wednesday, March 16, in the Western District of North Carolina on four counts of transporting stolen goods.
Mhana could not be reached for comment, and information regarding his defense attorney was not immediately available on March 17.
According to the federal indictment, Mhana owns Wireless City Fashions Inc. and Protocol Business Inc. Wireless City Fashions is a clothing retailer that reportedly operates out of the Protocol store on Bradford Drive in northwest Charlotte, which prosecutors said mainly sells Boost Mobile products.
The store reportedly became popular among boosters, or people who stole iPhones and other electronics through means of identity theft or other forms of fraud.
“Beginning no later than 2017, Protocol’s and Wireless City’s Bradford Drive store was known to boosters in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a place where they could sell new in-the-box iPhones for cash without any questions as to their provenance,” the indictment states.
Mhana’s workers had a price list that instructed how much he would pay for certain phones, which was always less than the retail value, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement started surveying the store in late 2018.
According to court filings, they saw people walk in “carrying new phones in their hands only to exit minutes later” without them. Undercover officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later sold iPhones to Mhana and his employees for a fraction of the retail cost, the government said.
At least 105 shipments were picked up by DHL, the international shipping company, at Mhana’s store between April 2017 and August 2019 with a total declared customs value of $14 million, prosecutors said.
All but two were reportedly addressed to the same logistics companies in the UAE and Hong Kong.
One of the shipments was damaged between Charlotte and Cincinnati, according to the indictment, and the products inside were mingled with other shipments. At least 88 iPhones, six iPads, four AirPods and two Samsung mobile phones were inside, but prosecutors said Mhana failed to provide any serial numbers or invoices that could prove they belonged to him.
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile confirmed at least 68 of the loose phones were stolen or obtained by fraud, according to the indictment. Dozens of other phones found over the next several months in DHL packages from Mhana’s store were also reportedly determined to be stolen.
When law enforcement eventually searched Mhana’s store in October 2019, prosecutors said, they seized 51 new iPhones and more than $178,000 in U.S. currency.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mhana will receive a court-ordered summons for his initial appearance before a judge. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
