This is pretty scary – it only notes the kind of quality personnel some of these wireless carriers hire for their first-tier support…has anyone else heard of this type of scam variant?
From Reddit reader ThisIsMyNewIdentity:
Last night, my sister was locked out of her iPhone 4s and called her carrier’s tech support for assistance. She didn’t have a USB cord for her iPhone and because of that she was told she would need to speak with Apple. They transferred her to what she was told was Apple Tech Support. The guy she spoke with was named Joe and was incredibly nice and seemingly helpful with getting her phone unlocked. He told her she needed to pay $250.00 for what I assume was some sort of “support package”. At the time, this red flag really didn’t click in her head. She just wanted her phone unlocked. The carrier had transferred her.
After speaking with Joe and giving him the money, she was told he was connecting her to someone who could help. At that point, the call was dropped. She called the number he gave her back. After spending fifty minutes on hold, a man named “Juan C” picked up. He told her she did in fact need a USB cord connected to a laptop and her itunes password. She is not very up on her electronic/internet security, and didn’t realize what a giant red flag this is.
We went to purchase the cord and called the man back. At this point, he told her she would need to restore the phone. He said he would call back when it was done and walk her through the rest of it. During this, she remembered her unlock code and just disconnected everything. I know this sounds stupid, but that’s what happened. She just remembered it. She was pissed about spending the money, but chalked it up to stupidity on her behalf.
A few hours later, she noticed someone was remotely using her computer. She closed the windows he had open and shut it off.
This morning, she noticed her bank account had been drained completely. She spoke with the REAL Apple and they told her she basically got raped. She has had to have a case opened and will be speaking with police as well.
TL;DR: Sister got transferred from a big name wireless carrier directly to a scammer who stole her identity and gained remote access to her laptop. Be careful who you give your info to.
via: [Reddit\TalesFromTechSupport]
Picture Source: [AMRosario (CC)]