What looked like a lucrative robbery quickly turned into a potential nightmare for thieves who looted an Apple Store in France, only to discover that their stolen iPhones could be locked and rendered useless. The thieves may have thought they had walked away with a fortune in expensive smartphones, but Apple’s security features can turn stolen devices into little more than high-tech paperweights. Apple’s security systems allow lost or stolen iPhones to be remotely locked, while Activation Lock can prevent anyone from activating a device without the owner’s credentials. That means the excitement of grabbing the latest iPhones could quickly give way to frustration, especially for thieves hoping to cash in by reselling the devices on the black market. The incident has sparked reactions online, with social media users finding humour in the possibility that the thieves risked arrest for phones they might not even be able to use. For the would-be jackpot winners, the lesson is brutal: stealing an iPhone may be easy, but turning it into money is another story entirely.