I nearly fell for a gift card scam from fake Apple Tech Support.

[Anonymous]

I always knew gift card scams were a thing, but I had no idea how people actually fell for them. Like, who would be dumb enough to buy or take gift cards from strangers?

But here was what happened. My phone was malfunctioning so I used my alternate phone to look up what might be wrong with it and contact Apple Customer Care. I click on the Apple Care website, and it instructs me to call this 800 number.
I call the number, and a human being answers (RED FLAG!) not a menu. But I was so frustrated with my phone that I didn’t realize that it was already suspicious, I was relieved that their support staff must be so efficient that I don’t need to go through 17 menu options. I explained my problem and that I didn’t think I still had a problem warranty. I gave them my Apple ID and my phone number, (nothing else, thankfully) and they claimed that I still had a warranty and this would be covered, but I needed to go through a device verification process. This was allegedly to involve a bank account transfer through Zelle, which “wasn’t working” and I had never set it up anyway. So I was instructed to do “offline verification” and which they said required obtaining Apple Cards from a grocery store. I still was thinking this was some kind of ID verification thing, and I asked why this wouldn’t be done at an Apple Store. Then they sent these text messages claiming that my account would be credited increments of $500, and I would need to purchase Apple Everything gift cards and that would cover the cost of the phone. It was finally then that I realized what was going on and that this wasn’t Apple. I hung up and filed a fraud report. I changed my Apple ID passwords for good measure, and blocked the card I had on file in case they actually had access to it.

The craziest thing was, I checked my browser history and it was actually the legitimate Apple website that I had been on. Not some counterfeit or spoofed website. The difference was, a pop up window had prompted me to call the scam number, and now that window does not appear. So the Apple website itself was actually breached.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always knew gift card scams were a thing, but I had no idea how people actually fell for them. Like, who would be dumb enough to buy or take gift cards from strangers?

But here was what happened. My phone was malfunctioning so I used my alternate phone to look up what might be wrong with it and contact Apple Customer Care. I click on the Apple Care website, and it instructs me to call this 800 number.
I call the number, and a human being answers (RED FLAG!) not a menu. But I was so frustrated with my phone that I didn’t realize that it was already suspicious, I was relieved that their support staff must be so efficient that I don’t need to go through 17 menu options. I explained my problem and that I didn’t think I still had a problem warranty. I gave them my Apple ID and my phone number, (nothing else, thankfully) and they claimed that I still had a warranty and this would be covered, but I needed to go through a device verification process. This was allegedly to involve a bank account transfer through Zelle, which “wasn’t working” and I had never set it up anyway. So I was instructed to do “offline verification” and which they said required obtaining Apple Cards from a grocery store. I still was thinking this was some kind of ID verification thing, and I asked why this wouldn’t be done at an Apple Store. Then they sent these text messages claiming that my account would be credited increments of $500, and I would need to purchase Apple Everything gift cards and that would cover the cost of the phone. It was finally then that I realized what was going on and that this wasn’t Apple. I hung up and filed a fraud report. I changed my Apple ID passwords for good measure, and blocked the card I had on file in case they actually had access to it.

The craziest thing was, I checked my browser history and it was actually the legitimate Apple website that I had been on. Not some counterfeit or spoofed website. The difference was, a pop up window had prompted me to call the scam number, and now that window does not appear. So the Apple website itself was actually breached.

No, you have malware that hijacked your browser. I assure you that if the Apple website were breached, it would be on the news.

Whatever machine you were using needs to be scanned immediately.

[Anonymous]

The Apple website was not "breached."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always knew gift card scams were a thing, but I had no idea how people actually fell for them. Like, who would be dumb enough to buy or take gift cards from strangers?

But here was what happened. My phone was malfunctioning so I used my alternate phone to look up what might be wrong with it and contact Apple Customer Care. I click on the Apple Care website, and it instructs me to call this 800 number.
I call the number, and a human being answers (RED FLAG!) not a menu. But I was so frustrated with my phone that I didn’t realize that it was already suspicious, I was relieved that their support staff must be so efficient that I don’t need to go through 17 menu options. I explained my problem and that I didn’t think I still had a problem warranty. I gave them my Apple ID and my phone number, (nothing else, thankfully) and they claimed that I still had a warranty and this would be covered, but I needed to go through a device verification process. This was allegedly to involve a bank account transfer through Zelle, which “wasn’t working” and I had never set it up anyway. So I was instructed to do “offline verification” and which they said required obtaining Apple Cards from a grocery store. I still was thinking this was some kind of ID verification thing, and I asked why this wouldn’t be done at an Apple Store. Then they sent these text messages claiming that my account would be credited increments of $500, and I would need to purchase Apple Everything gift cards and that would cover the cost of the phone. It was finally then that I realized what was going on and that this wasn’t Apple. I hung up and filed a fraud report. I changed my Apple ID passwords for good measure, and blocked the card I had on file in case they actually had access to it.

The craziest thing was, I checked my browser history and it was actually the legitimate Apple website that I had been on. Not some counterfeit or spoofed website. The difference was, a pop up window had prompted me to call the scam number, and now that window does not appear. So the Apple website itself was actually breached.

It’s amazing that people actually fall for this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always knew gift card scams were a thing, but I had no idea how people actually fell for them. Like, who would be dumb enough to buy or take gift cards from strangers?

But here was what happened. My phone was malfunctioning so I used my alternate phone to look up what might be wrong with it and contact Apple Customer Care. I click on the Apple Care website, and it instructs me to call this 800 number.
I call the number, and a human being answers (RED FLAG!) not a menu. But I was so frustrated with my phone that I didn’t realize that it was already suspicious, I was relieved that their support staff must be so efficient that I don’t need to go through 17 menu options. I explained my problem and that I didn’t think I still had a problem warranty. I gave them my Apple ID and my phone number, (nothing else, thankfully) and they claimed that I still had a warranty and this would be covered, but I needed to go through a device verification process. This was allegedly to involve a bank account transfer through Zelle, which “wasn’t working” and I had never set it up anyway. So I was instructed to do “offline verification” and which they said required obtaining Apple Cards from a grocery store. I still was thinking this was some kind of ID verification thing, and I asked why this wouldn’t be done at an Apple Store. Then they sent these text messages claiming that my account would be credited increments of $500, and I would need to purchase Apple Everything gift cards and that would cover the cost of the phone. It was finally then that I realized what was going on and that this wasn’t Apple. I hung up and filed a fraud report. I changed my Apple ID passwords for good measure, and blocked the card I had on file in case they actually had access to it.

The craziest thing was, I checked my browser history and it was actually the legitimate Apple website that I had been on. Not some counterfeit or spoofed website. The difference was, a pop up window had prompted me to call the scam number, and now that window does not appear. So the Apple website itself was actually breached.

It’s amazing that people actually fall for this nonsense.

You are just repeating OP has already said. Anything else to add?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing. It's shockingly easy to get tripped up by these scammers when you are distracted or stressed and a little prideful about feeling immune to scams. We all need to be careful and look out for each other.

[Anonymous]

OP post screenshots of what you saw on your computer.

[Anonymous]

https://support.apple.com/gift-card-scams

[Anonymous]

https://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/15667-you-have-been-redirected-to-apple-support-page-pop-up-scam-mac

More likely a scam or hacked site (not Apple.com) snuck into web searches results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always knew gift card scams were a thing, but I had no idea how people actually fell for them. Like, who would be dumb enough to buy or take gift cards from strangers?

But here was what happened. My phone was malfunctioning so I used my alternate phone to look up what might be wrong with it and contact Apple Customer Care. I click on the Apple Care website, and it instructs me to call this 800 number.
I call the number, and a human being answers (RED FLAG!) not a menu. But I was so frustrated with my phone that I didn’t realize that it was already suspicious, I was relieved that their support staff must be so efficient that I don’t need to go through 17 menu options. I explained my problem and that I didn’t think I still had a problem warranty. I gave them my Apple ID and my phone number, (nothing else, thankfully) and they claimed that I still had a warranty and this would be covered, but I needed to go through a device verification process. This was allegedly to involve a bank account transfer through Zelle, which “wasn’t working” and I had never set it up anyway. So I was instructed to do “offline verification” and which they said required obtaining Apple Cards from a grocery store. I still was thinking this was some kind of ID verification thing, and I asked why this wouldn’t be done at an Apple Store. Then they sent these text messages claiming that my account would be credited increments of $500, and I would need to purchase Apple Everything gift cards and that would cover the cost of the phone. It was finally then that I realized what was going on and that this wasn’t Apple. I hung up and filed a fraud report. I changed my Apple ID passwords for good measure, and blocked the card I had on file in case they actually had access to it.

The craziest thing was, I checked my browser history and it was actually the legitimate Apple website that I had been on. Not some counterfeit or spoofed website. The difference was, a pop up window had prompted me to call the scam number, and now that window does not appear. So the Apple website itself was actually breached.

No, you have malware that hijacked your browser. I assure you that if the Apple website were breached, it would be on the news.

Whatever machine you were using needs to be scanned immediately.

NP. That is good to know.