Two Oregon college students are facing jail after allegedly raking in $895,800 an iPhone scam.

Yangyang Zhou and Quon Jiang are alleged to have sent a total of 1,500 fake iPhones to Apple claiming the imports from Hong Kong were faulty, in order to get real devices back and sell online.

Corvallis Oregon State engineering student Zhou could spend five years behind bars and have to pay $10,000 for making false or misleading claims on an export declaration.

Jiang who studies electrical engineering at Linn Benton Community College in Albany, faces 30 years in prison and $2million in fines accused of trafficking in counterfeit goods and wire fraud.

Yangyang Zhou and Quon Jiang are alleged to have earned $895,800 by sending fake iPhones to Apple and claiming they were faulty and needed replacements. Pictured are boxes at Zhou's home

A March court filing states authorities were tipped off about Chinese students – in the US on student visas until completing their courses last year – by US Customs and Border Protection who discovered at least five products that appeared fake.

They started investigating two years ago and by March 2018 Jiang had been accused.

Documents say Zhou used 216 different warranty claims, but alleged scam leader Jiang far outdid that with 3,069.

Apple did not accept 1,600 of the claims because they seemed to have been tampered with.

It's claimed they paid associates to have the iPhones and fake phones delivered to their homes. The genuine products would then be sold for hundreds of dollars from abroad.

But the suspects were linked by either names, addresses, emails, IP addresses.

Jiang allegedly said in a December 2017 interview with Homeland Security at the Port of Portland that he regularly received packages containing up to 30 iPhones from China.

They allegedly got someone overseas to sell them online from abroad for hundreds of dollars

He claimed he was never told by Apple the iPhones were fake.

But lawyers for Apple sent cease and desist letters to a Corvallis address associated with Jiang in June and July 2017.

However Apple reportedly stated told investigators they can't examine whether an iPhone that won't power up is counterfeit until a while after processing the replacement.

'Jiang explained that in exchange for his labor and efforts, his associate in China pays Jiang's mother, who also resides in China, who in turn deposits the proceeds into a [bank] account that Jiang is able to access here in the United States,' documents claim.

He is currently not in custody but is under GPS monitoring.

US Customs and Border Protection tipped off authorities in April 2017. Jiang who studies electrical engineering at Linn Benton Community College in Albany, faces 30 years in prison and $2million in fines accused of trafficking in counterfeit goods and wire fraud

Corvallis Oregon State engineering student Zhou could spend five years behind bars and have to pay $10,000 for making false or misleading claims on an export declaration

Authorities took Apple devices from Zhou at San Francisco International Airport last August and discovered images that showed dozens of shipping boxes and product codes on packing from the tech giant.

They retrieved more than 300 iPhones at his home and intercepted three Portland shipments containing replica phones.

Jiang's lawyer declined comment to The Oregonian.

A legal representative for Zhou claimed his clients wasn't aware of any counterfeiting.

He told KOIN 6 News: 'Mr. Zhou was not aware of any alleged counterfeiting, and we believe Mr. Zhou will be vindicated.'