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hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,087
1,366
Hi, after I ordered a BTO MBP from Apple Canada Education site, I received an email titled "We're processing your order [order number]". Then, I received two phone calls. Due to lots of recent SPAM, I did not answer. Then, i got a mail titled "Action Required: Order [order number]". It asked me to call an account specialist at 800-506-3096 with an extension number. I called twice. The machine asked me to take a survey about vacation. No mention about Apple. After answering a few questions, I did not respond. Then, my phone got terminated. Called again. Same thing. Then, I went to Apple'site to chat with an agent. The agent asked my name, address and phone number and the order number. Then, he said that I had to call the account specialist. I told him that due to SPAM, I don't take phone calls from strangers. He said that he would ask somebody to call me later yesterday or today. So far, no call. Is this strange? Has anybody encountered this before?
 
If you do search for 800-506-3096 then you'll find there's a litany of complaints about calls coming from it etc.

Is the order # the same as your order #?

I'd call Apple direct myself.
 
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>> The machine asked me to take a survey about vacation.

this can't be apple
ask them to tell you something about you that was not on the order info but that apple would know

when i had what sounded like a spam call like that, I replied with

"I need to validate your id. Can . you email me or text me a cell phone picture of your employee badge?"
Make it sound like a perfectly normal request.

another time when the response was "I'm self employed."
"Then a cell phone picture of your driver's license would do."
Usually that results in a hangup.

Whenever I'm suspicious of someone, I ask for a cell phone picture of their driver's license.

ps: Try to not say "Yes" or "OK" to any question. Just ask questions in response.

My primary goal were I in your situation is to know who they are
 
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Thanks all. Just call 1-800-MY-APPLE. The agent found that the phone number on the ordering email is incorrect! There is a typo! How could this happen in such a big company and nobody noticed until now? He transferred me to the account specialist. Even the specialist thought it were the right number!
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If you do search for 800-506-3096 then you'll find there's a litany of complaints about calls coming from it etc.

Is the order # the same as your order #?

I'd call Apple direct myself.

This all sounds scary.
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>> The machine asked me to take a survey about vacation.

this can't be apple
ask them to tell you something about you that was not on the order info but that apple would know

when i had what sounded like a spam call like that, I replied with

"I need to validate your id. Can . you email me or text me a cell phone picture of your employee badge?"
Make it sound like a perfectly normal request.

another time when the response was "I'm self employed."
"Then a cell phone picture of your driver's license would do."
Usually that results in a hangup.

Whenever I'm suspicious of someone, I ask for a cell phone picture of their driver's license.

ps: Try to not say "Yes" or "OK" to any question. Just ask questions in response.

My primary goal were I in your situation is to know who they are

No human was talking to me in both calls. Just a machine asking me to press some keys as answers to their survey. Hope they did not scam me.

Apple staff just told me that they would look into this. They suggested always use the numbers on company website rather than in the email.
 
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I don’t get it. So Apple actually sent you a scammers phone number? Or did you get tricked by a spam email that happened to come in right after your order confirmation email and you thought it was related to your order?


I’ve read that phone scammers want to capture your voice saying “yes” or “ok” to try to use it as verbal verification to complete some kind of scam. I don’t know how that works...
 
I don’t get it. So Apple actually sent you a scammers phone number? Or did you get tricked by a spam email that happened to come in right after your order confirmation email and you thought it was related to your order?


I’ve read that phone scammers want to capture your voice saying “yes” or “ok” to try to use it as verbal verification to complete some kind of scam. I don’t know how that works...

Apple sent me a scammers phone number! The extension is correct but one of the digits in the main number is wrong. The chat agent I contacted through Apple website yesterday also told me that wrong number. Today, they called it a "Typo" as they did not even know until I complained about it! Unbelievable!

Yes I also heard the same thing. I get many spam calls. I don't know if sometime they asked trivial questions but in fact they tried to capture "yes" or "ok". I have been told to just hand up. I guess I should not have pressed any key on the phone like I did.
 
Wow, that's ridiculous. I'd be complaining to them about my concerns about potentially being scammed because of their mistake, but then again it may be a total waste of time.
 
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Holy crap. That’s really amazing. Apple is slipping so much that they are now directing it’s customers to scammers.. 😂

We don't know that for sure, OP could have done something wrong. It just seems highly unlikely Apple will redirect people to scammers, more likely user error.
 
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We don't know that for sure, OP could have done something wrong. It just seems highly unlikely Apple will redirect people to scammers, more likely user error.

I don't know if they have fixed this yet. Go ahead, place an order and use a name different from the name on the credit card, you will get that email with the scammer number (if they have not fixed it yet).
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