Apple Technical Support (Spoof)

Victim Location 30346

Type of a scam Tech Support

Call the Apple support line to get something off my Apple Pay account then told me to download support app then he could see everything on my phone. Then, told money out my account. Call him Juan!

Victim Location 46530

Total money lost $1,050

Type of a scam Online Purchase

I received several calls on my landline from Apple Support saying there was a possible security breach on my iCloud account and it was very important that they reach me. I finally answered the phone and said stop calling me. The person pleaded with me and said he was from Apple (said just check the caller ID to verify) and that he was trying to reach me because someone from Mexico had tried several times to access my account. I said I do not use my iCloud account but he said "you do have one, though." I wanted to just delete the account but he said I should not do that. He said it was important that I login to the iCloud email. All of a sudden he had control of my computer screen. My immediate reaction was to ask how he was doing that but for some I did not ask. He was telling me that Apple cares about its customers and he wanted to help prevent anyone from hacking into my account. He showed me information that he said indicated that multiple attempts had been made over the last year. He showed me purchases I had made online from Walmart and Target. He asked about Wi-fi and twice asked how many lights were blinking on the modem. He showed me icons on my computer screen that could be viruses or could be pop-ups where someone could be hacking into my computer. He said he was deleting these to avoid viruses. I asked him a few times why he was he doing this for me and each time he said Apple takes care of its customers. He asked me to check some things on my phone and to power off and restart it. Finally after over an hour he said I would need to install software to prevent this from happening again. It was all totally free to me. He asked if I was familiar with gift cards and I said yes. He asked if I ever used an E-Bay gift card and I said no. He asked if there was a Walgreens close by where I could purchase gift cards. He would deposit $500 into my bank account, put it on my credit card, or send a paper check to me by mail or FedEx. I said I didn’t want to do anything with my bank account or credit card. So he asked me to hold for a few minutes (he had asked me to hold a couple of other times on the call). He came back and showed me a check addressed to me. He said I should run to Walgreen’s and buy $500 in gift cards. I said "this is a scam" and hung up. Right after I hung up he called back. I had called my nephew right after I hung up (he is a computer consultant) and I did not hear what the scammer but later listened to voicemail. He was not talking but I could hear the same background noise as when I was on the call with him. The call lasted about three minutes. I believe he had an Indian or Middle Eastern accent and I could hear others with the same accent. I immediately called my bank and my credit card companies. There was a purchase on a Visa credit card of $100 for a Walmart e-gift card and two $475 Target gift cards on my Target Red Card. (While I am stating below that $!,050 was lost, my credit card companies will not charge those to my accounts). I noticed that I was not receiving emails on my cell phone. Today I called Geek Squad because I did not see emails for two days.

The tech support person asked me to reset my gmail password again (I had done it already once) and power off my phone. That worked to receive emails in my inbox. I realized then that the last two days of emails had gone into Trash. The hacker must have instructed me to do something in my settings to cause that because I noticed two emails sent two days ago verifying those credit card purchase that he made.

Victim Location 30643

Total money lost $200

Type of a scam Tech Support

I called Apple Support at 1-855-948-3666 spoke with a guy that claimed to be a supervisor to get my iPhone fixed, he said I had to get a ebay card in order to fix it, but the money would be put back into my account, my phone was not fixed and my money was taken, I called back and spoke with another guy that claimed to be the head supervisor, he got my information and reassured me my money would be back into my account, but it has not been.. when you call a reliable Company and you get scammed this way, makes you not trust the Companies in this Country!

Victim Location 30297

Total money lost $250

Type of a scam Phishing

company claiming to be apple customer support. using gift cards to receive money from customers. claiming that you need to purchase gift cards in order to receive gift cards. they redeem the gift cards for themselves.

Victim Location 46322

Type of a scam Identity Theft

the Scammer actually said his name was Mr W. Smith from Apple stating potential 14 others in Germany are using our account. Did actually know our names and asked to confirm name and address. however wanted to access or computer thats when I decided to get their phone number which they provided, When I called back the message greeting is not from Apple.

Victim Location 08886

Type of a scam Tech Support

Scammer called and left message that I should not use any of my Apple computer or phone devices as my account seems to be compromised. The message said if I would like support press "1" or if I wish to hang up press "2". The # that called me was 844-592-3168. I called # back to see why they were calling. Spoke with a man giving his name as "William" but had heavy accent (not to be biased) sounded he was from India. I asked if William was his real name and he said yes. Asked William why I was called and he gave same pitch as voicemail. I asked where he was located and name of company. He said located in CA and company name was "Apple Support". He said he could not give out address. I told him it was a scam and he said no that they contract with Apple. I contacted Apple support and they said it must be a scam and would report phone # in their system. Suggested I contact my local ScamPulse.com to report phone #. Just so you know, I live in NJ but my mobile phone has NY area code "917".