Identity thieves have perfected a scam in which they impersonate existing customers at retail mobile phone stores, pay a small cash deposit on pricey new phones. In most cases, switching on the new phones causes the victim account owners phone(s) to go dead. This is a fairly successful and common scheme for thieves to steal (and, in all likelihood, resell) high-end phones. The thieves paid a $150 cash deposit to upgrade the Schwartzes’ simple mobiles to new iPhone 6s devices, with the balance to be placed on the account.”]
Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/08/a-life-or-death-case-of-identity-theft/