Scheme to get dozens of iPhones foiled when homeless stand-ins reported

You’re limited to the number of new iPhones you can get, but an ill-advised attempt to get more was thwarted. Unfortunately, the homeless people recruited to buy the iPhones were stuck without a ride back and without the money they were promised.

A businessman scheming to get his profit-minded hands on dozens of new iPhones allegedly recruited about 100 homeless people from Skid Row in Los Angeles to wait in line overnight at the Pasadena Apple Store, but many were left unpaid and stranded after his plan was exposed, local media reported Friday.

The unidentified reseller had offered $40 to each hired hand who bought an iPhone for him, which he bragged about to others in the line of about 200 people, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported. When they learned of the scheme, store personnel stopped selling the latest iPhone models to the homeless stand-ins.