It looks like people are now scalping more than just concert tickets and spots in line.
Scalpers are now reserving all available Genius Bar appointments at Chinese Apples stores, forcing those in need of tech advice to pay between $1.60 and $6.40 for a time slot.
We first heard about the story over at 9To5Mac.
The scalpers appear to be targeting Apple’s Hong Kong locations, with one Twitter user reporting that two out of three Hong Kong stores had no appointments available.
Apple does not require an Apple ID to reserve an appointment with its Genius Bar, only an email address, and this is how scalpers are able to reserve so many time slots. Instead of signing in with an Apple ID, the scalpers simply create multiple email addresses.
By selling the sign-in information, scalpers enable their customers to alter the specifics of their Genius Bar appointment — but only after paying the fee.
We have reached out to Apple for a comment on how they plan to prevent this.
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