This Sting Sounds Incredibly Sketchy To Me

Undercover cops are selling iPhones on the street to get people to stop buying stolen iPhones.

Since the iPhones aren't actually stolen, the people aren't actually buying stolen iPhones. All you're proving them guilty of is that they would buy a stolen iPhone.

Do we have cops going around selling oregano as marijuana and arresting people for that?

Don't cops have anything better to do than bait people into buying faux-stolen iPhones?

How about catching the people who steal and sell iPhones? Such people are probably already career criminals, likely to be guilty of stealing many other things. Seems far more important to get them off the street than the comparatively harmless buyers.