Posing as Apple support

Alison –

Victim Location 48224

Total money lost $1,000

Type of a scam Tech Support

I got multiple calls from different states in the country in the span of one day or even a few hours.

All of them had an automated message that said in a female voice

"There has been suspicious activity detected on your iCloud account. Do not use any apple products or other electronic devices until speaking with a customer service representative. Press one to talk now or press two to hear this message again."

I pressed one because I was worried I had been hacked and was vulnerable to attack. Once I was speaking with a representative who had a thick Indian accent I asked what the problem was and if he could prove that he was from apple support. He told me to go to the apple support page (from the actual website) and look at the customer service number. The phone number listed on the apple site was the same as the one he was calling me from. This was enough to make me believe he was from apple support for the time being.

He continued to ask if I had opened any suspicions email, given out my information to anyone, gone to any unsecured websites, etc. Then he said in order to show me the people that had access to my computer and all of the malware they had installed he would need access through a screen sharing program named goToAssist. I clicked the download and he almost instantly had control over my laptop. He proceeded to open the command prompt and show me all of the IP addresses to other computers that had established a connection to my device. Then he went on to write in my notepad app that I had a bad credit limit of $15,000. Which he said meant that hackers could take this much out of my bank accounts each month without me authorizing any of the charges.

In order to reduce the hackers on my device and the amount they could take from my accounts I had to sign up for a coinbase account and go out to a store and purchase google play cards. During the coinbase account setup I had to put in my SSN, credit card number, license pictures, and a bunch of other personal info that this company probably has access to now! After my account was setup the hacker made a trade of crypto currency using my money to their accounts.

He proceeded to say that this coinbase account would keep hackers away from my personal information and computer, but now we needed to get rid of the bad credit limit of $15000 by purchasing google play cards for $500 each. He said that this was the most secure method to verify my credit and debit cards and ban anyone else from using them. He also assured me that any and all purchases made with my cards would be immediately refunded (which they never were). While he was still on the phone I went to a store and purchased one google play card for $500. Then he asked for the code on the back ( that is used to redeem the card) so he could finish the verification process. Once that was over he said my bad credit limit had been reduced to $2000 and that one more card would get rid of it entirely. So I went back into the store bought one more $500 card and gave him the code on the back again.

Once I had maxed out my credit card he said that my bad credit limit had been terminated and that my device was no longer being hacked. Then all of the sudden he hung up the phone, even though I asked him to prove that what he said was true. That was when I realized that I was not speaking with apple support at all but with someone who wanted my money and nothing more.

If someone is claiming that your device is being hacked DO NOT USE THEM TO FIX THE PROBLEM! Go to an apple store or really anyone that knows about technology and how to track malware or hackers. I lost over $1000 trying to keep my data and money safe and it only put me at more risk to being hacked or to have my identity stolen! I hope that this recap of what happened to me can help you avoid the same mistakes. I have not been reimbursed and likely never will be because I was the one who made the purchases of the google play cards ( just under false pretenses).