China said last week that it uncovered a massive underground network of thieves and Apple employees selling customers' private data.
Police in Cangnan County, Zhejiang province claimed that the network had earned more than RMB50 million from sales of the data, the New York Times reports.
While many details remain unclear, Cangnan police said that Apple employees had illegally obtained personal information about customers, and that 20 of the 22 arrested had worked for companies that either sold Apple products or were Apple contractors.
The data was said to include names, Apple identification numbers and phone numbers of the company's users. It's uncertain whether the theives also had access to passwords or credit card numbers, which would indicate a much more serious security breach.
The incident is the latest in Apple's string of China struggles. Last year, the company was forced to shut down its iBooks and iTunes Movies platforms by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television after launching just a few months prior. Meanwhile, the Apple News app is still blocked and Apple TV remains unavailable. Further setbacks included a local court ordering the American technology brand to stop selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in Beijing. And last summer China was no longer the company's number two market last summer after revenue plunged. In December, a number of Chinese Apple users reported that their phones were exploding.
Earlier this year, the Cupertino-based technology company made the controversial decision disable the tipping feature on WeChat, following failed negotiations with the Tencent-owned platform.
WeChat, which has over 800 million users and 10 million public accounts for businesses, agencies and KOLs publishing daily content, currently holds a 38 percent share in China's mobile payment market, according to Bloomberg.
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