Looters who raided an Apple Store in Lille, France, during last weekend’s riots found out quickly that stolen iPhones weren’t going to be much use to them.
A video that spread online following the pillaging shows one of the looters holding up the stolen iPhone with the warning message clearly visible on the screen.
Translated from French, the message read, “Please return the device to Apple Lille. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.”
Apple’s demo products are known to show warnings like this when they’re taken out of a store. The tech giant’s retail display units run specialized demo firmware integrated with proprietary Mobile Device Management (MDM) software.
This means that the moment a demo device loses connection to the store’s private Wi-Fi network or exits a designated geofenced perimeter, the system automatically triggers a permanent lockdown mode, turns on persistent location tracking, and wipes personal user capabilities. In addition, Apple’s Activation Lock ties every component, including screens, cameras, and batteries, to the device’s hardware profile, so thieves cannot harvest or resell the parts.
The Lille store was one of many shops hit during Saturday’s protests. Rioters also went after Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Dior locations. In Bordeaux, a masked group broke down the doors of a Louis Vuitton store, and in Marseille, looters went after Hermes along with jewelry, makeup, and clothing stores.
The protests started over education and the rising cost of living. In initial tallies, about 1,800 people were arrested, a figure that later climbed past 2,300, and more than 500 police officers were hurt.
Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimates the riots will cost insurers up to €1.2 billion (around $1.3 billion), with broader industry estimates reaching up to $1.6 billion. That’s close to double the cost of the 2023 riots that followed the police shooting of Nahel Merzouk.
Sources: Reinsurance News, France 24, Apple Support, Firstpost, X (Formerly Twitter), NYP