SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reports a scam where callers posing as Apple employees contact citizens and tell them their computer or internet had been hacked.
SCSO wants to inform the public that this is a scam and ends up in swindling the citizen out of their money.
The reports came in after reports from multiple victims.
One victim, in her 70’s, had been victimized by the scam on October 12. Reports show she said she received a call from a male stating her Apple account had been hacked but he could fix it for a fee. Reports show the woman was told to go to the store and purchase $800 worth of iTunes gift cards and scan them onto her computer, which she did.
According to the release, the male was given remote access to her computer where he retrieved the gift card information.
The victim reported the scammer used a phone number of 844-432-5964.
Another victim reported a similar scam on October 18. The reports show she received a phone call from 844-275-2273 the previous day. During that call, the male scammer claimed to work for Apple Support and advised her internet had been comprised and the Russians had hacked into her system. He continued the scam by telling the victim she could bring her computer to the Apple Store or he could access her computer remotely and fix the problem for $200. He told the victim to go to the store and purchase $200 worth of iTunes gifts cards and scan them into her computer, which she did.
A second scammer told the same victim the iTunes cards were corrupt and she needed to purchase another $200 worth of iTunes gift cards, which she did as instructed.
To prevent being a victim of a scam, SCSO encourages citizens to never provide gift card, prepaid credit card or debit/credit card information unless you have independently verified the person or company. Officials also mention to never allow a person you do not know and trust remote access to your computer.
