Man buys iPhone 17 in UAE— finds stones inside the box

Dubai: What was meant to be a celebratory moment for Ahmed Saeed quickly turned into disbelief when he opened the box of his brand-new iPhone 17 — only to find it filled with stones.

The incident took place on Thursday evening after Saeed purchased the latest Apple device from a mobile phone shop in Al Ain. Like many buyers, he chose not to open the sealed box at the store, saving the unboxing for home, where his family was waiting.

“It felt like the real thing — perfectly sealed, same weight, same packaging,” Saeed told Al Khaleej newspaper. “There was no way to suspect anything was wrong.”

But hours later, when he finally opened the box, he was stunned to discover its contents: neatly packed stones, cut to mimic the weight of a smartphone.

The shopkeeper, equally surprised, admitted the unit had not come from an official distributor or certified reseller. While denying any foul play, he acknowledged the device may have passed through an unreliable supply chain.

The store refunded Saeed in full and retrieved the counterfeit box, which, according to him, “looked 100 percent genuine.”