French Apple store looters get unpleasant surprise on stolen iPhones: ‘Disabled and being tracked’

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Reyes, R. (2026, October 21). French Apple store looters get unpleasant surprise on stolen iPhones: ‘Disabled and being tracked’. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/21/world-news/french-apple-store-looters-get-unpleasant-surprise-on-stolen-iphones/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-21 · by Ronny Reyes

Quick Summary

During riots in Lille, France on October 17, looters stole iPhones from an Apple Store only to find them disabled and being tracked by Apple. Videos showed security alerts on stolen devices warning thieves that local authorities would be alerted. Social media users mocked the looters for taking products that would become useless shortly after theft. The incident occurred amid widespread protests targeting luxury goods stores across France, with arrests numbering around 1,800 and over 500 officers injured. Insurance costs from these riots are estimated to range between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-21, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On October 17, 2026, looters raided a Louis Vuitton store and a Hermes store, along with a French Apple Store in Lille, France, during chaotic riots. Viral videos showed thieves at the Lille Apple Store receiving security warnings on their stolen iPhones, indicating that the devices had been disabled and were being tracked, with local authorities alerted. The iPhone display read: “Please return the device to Apple Lille. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted.” Social media users mocked the thieves for taking devices that would get blocked within minutes of theft.

Written for “Stolen Iphones Disabled And Tracked” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Stolen Iphones Disabled And Tracked
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 15% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 64
“Article A describes widespread looting across Paris, while Article B focuses on a specific incident at an Apple Store in Lille with a tracking warning.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 12% hedged 9 of 77 📰 publisher trust 64
“Article A describes general rioting across France, while Article B focuses on a specific incident at an Apple Store where looters received tracking alerts on stolen iPhones.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 2 of 12 📰 publisher trust 68
“While both articles refer to looting during French riots, ARTICLE A discusses Vinted's response to suspected looted goods across France, while ARTICLE B focuses on a specific incident involving Apple stores and iPhones with tracking alerts.”
National Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 11% hedged 4 of 36 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles describe different aspects of a larger set of events: one focuses on looting in general across France, while the other specifically discusses an incident at an Apple store involving tracking technology.”
Times of India
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 10% hedged 3 of 31 📰 publisher trust 59
“The first article describes widespread looting across several cities, while the second focuses specifically on a warning message displayed on stolen iPhones from an Apple store in Lille.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 19 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss looting of an Apple store during French protests, Article A is a general overview of multiple stores being targeted on different days, while Article B focuses specifically on the aftermath of a single incident at the Lille Apple Store with details about tracking and disabling stolen devices.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
15%
2 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-21 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 13062 article(s) · 33 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 33 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Ronny Reyes
56 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 Local authorities will be alerted,” the alert read.
🔮 Aid flow from the European Union remains volatile after Slovakia and Hungary announced earlier this week that they would not participate in the bloc’s push to provide a nearly $80 billion aid package to Ukraine.
🔮 The goal is to get a peace deal that will favor the Kremlin, but also for Russia, China and the US to establish spheres of influence around the world, a former Moscow intelligence officer with knowledge of the talks told the Journal.
🔮 Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday that the Islamic Republic would take care of some “unfinished jobs” if the US renewed its attacks on the Middle Eastern nation.
🔮 “One day, all of us here will also die, and sometimes the time we’ve spent on things doesn’t have as much meaning as the time we spend with God,” he said. “The quality time we give to God, to our brothers and sisters, to our husbands, wives, children, and family— that time is the best spent,” Molinari added.
🔮 A member of the temple told reporters he doesn’t know why protesters would go after the synagogue, suggesting they were likely targeted for antisemitic reasons. “It can’t be a coincidence that they chose to target a Jewish place of worship,” the congregant told IsraJ. “They must have thought that since they are Jewish, there must be money there.” In France’s second-largest city of Marseille, which boasts one of the largest Jewish populations of any city in Europe, rioters vandalized dozens of shops — stealing a range of products ranging from high-end Hermes items to slices of bread, according to local reports. Ariel Goldmann, of the Unified Jewish Social Fund (SPCJ) organization, confirmed that some of the shops hit by the vandals were owned by Jewish people.
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🔮 “We hope all will be resumed to the previous level.”
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Also by Ronny Reyes
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 56 articles by Ronny Reyes →

Topics

Apple Apple Lille Hermes Louis Vuitton iPhone

Subjects

Hermes ORG · 2× Louis Vuitton ORG · 2× Apple ORG · 1× Apple Lille ORG · 1× Bordeaux GPE · 1× Dior ORG · 1× Lille Apple ORG · 1× Lille France GPE · 1× Marseille GPE · 1× Morningstar ORG · 1×

Narrative

Apple’s products famously flash such warnings when they detect that they have been stolen from stores, with many on social media mocking the thieves who were seen rummaging through the seller over the weekend.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-21
🔮 Local authorities will be alerted,” the alert read.

Claims (13 extracted, 2 hedged)

iHope you weren’t planning on getting away with it. asserted
you → ihope → it
Looters who descended on a French Apple Store during the chaotic riots were reportedly greeted with warnings from their ill-gotten gains that the merchandise was being locked and tracked. uncertain
merchandise → descend → gains
Viral video from the aftermath of the looting of the Lille Apple Store on Oct. 17 shows one of the thieves flashing the security warning on the stolen iPhone. “Please return the device to Apple Lille. asserted
one → show → Lille
This device has been disabled and is being tracked. asserted
device → disable → ?
Local authorities will be alerted,” the alert read. asserted
alert → alert → ?
Apple’s products famously flash such warnings when they detect that they have been stolen from stores, with many on social media mocking the thieves who were seen rummaging through the seller over the weekend. asserted
who → flash → weekend
“Protesters raided an Apple Store in Lille France yesterday, dumbest move ever,” one person posted on X. “Taking iPhones that will get blocked 2 minutes later, the morons,” another person added. asserted
person → raid → iPhones
“Those products will be blocked and their location will be identified,” another user correctly predicted. asserted
user → block → ?
The Lille Apple location was among the major luxury goods stores that were hit across the nation during Saturday’s mass protest, with rioters also going after Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Dior stores. asserted
rioters → hit → stores
In Bordeaux, a masked crowd was seen breaking down the doors to a Louis Vuitton store, as a parade of protesters waved red flags with hammer and sickle signs along the street. asserted
parade → see → street
In Marseille, looters targeted luxury brand Hermes, as well as stores selling jewelry, makeup and clothes. asserted
looters → target → jewelry
The demonstrations, which began over education and the cost of living crisis, quickly descended into chaos, with about 1,800 people arrested and more than 500 officers injured. asserted
officers → begin → chaos
Insurance costs over the riots are expected to hit between $1.3 to $1.6 billion, according to the Morningstar investment firm, nearly double the price from the 2023 riots over the police shooting of Nahel Merzouk. uncertain
costs → expect → Merzouk
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