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Beware of Fraudulent iPhone Support!

Just did a search and it is the top ad with same phone number. <sigh>

OT: A guy at work had a buddy that tried to get PC support from Dell and ended up with a scammer. The buddy handed over some of his passwords and the scammer started buying things on eBay and other mayhem. :mad:
 
http://www.apple.com/contact/

krravi said:
I was busy fixing a leaking tap in the garden and so I wasn't paying much attention, plus the scammer had even copied the Apple support voice prompts perfectly!

I asked him twice if this was Apple as his accent was too thick to be working in Apple customer support and he said "YES"!

Plus, Apple makes it hard to find its 1 800 number. Looks like you have to go here

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/ and then choose the very small font of "contact us".

Hard to do all that in a small phone. So thought google search was quick! And how wrong I was.
Click to expand...
 
AFDoc said:
If you (anyone) get scammed by this you (anyone) deserve it. Why didn't you simply go to apple.com and start there?
Click to expand...

Exactly, if you can't tell the difference between an ad on google and a legitimate website it's all on you.
 
allbrittons said:
I too got scammed by these people. My iPhone update failed as i was at the airport to go to Europe for a month. My husband searched Google for apple support and sent me the phone # (he was not on the trip). Long story short, they were of NO help, it cost $119.00 and I just found another $19.99 charge on my credit card. I thought the $119 was for a year, but they said it was for a month... I cancelled my subscription and they are supposedly refunding the $19.99. Once that is credited, I will dispute the original charge. Good to know that Apple is trying to stop the bogus ads.
Click to expand...

You need to cancel your credit card and get a new one issued. While talking to the bank, have them reverse the charges. Do you really trust then with you credit card number?
 
In related news, licking power outlets is dangerous and there are lethal dangers called "roads" all over the country - literally right in your hometown!
 
Far too many people click on the top links thinking its a search result and dont realise its a paid advertisement. My parents do it all the time and then wonder why everything 'costs so much' on the internet. :rolleyes:
 
AFDoc said:
If you (anyone) get scammed by this you (anyone) deserve it. Why didn't you simply go to apple.com and start there?
Click to expand...

Why does anyone deserve it? What is with this notion that if a person is tricked, they are the only ones at fault.
 
appleisking said:
Why does anyone deserve it? What is with this notion that if a person is tricked, they are the only ones at fault.
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Because they weren't tricked. If I put out an ad saying that I'm selling property with an ocean view in Indiana and you give me money, who's "fault" is it? If I'm looking for a contact number for a company and, instead of either going to the company's website or looking up local store decide to click on an ad link on google that read www.besbuy.mytechhelp.com is it the ads fault or your for not noticing A) that it's an ad and B) "mytechhelp.com" clearly isn't a URL for a legitimate site? It's not assigning blame, it's noting that there's a lack of common sense occurring. Unless you're telling me that it's your first time on the internet, which I'd have a hard time believing.
 
Interstella5555 said:
Because they weren't tricked. If I put out an ad saying that I'm selling property with an ocean view in Indiana and you give me money, who's "fault" is it? If I'm looking for a contact number for a company and, instead of either going to the company's website or looking up local store decide to click on an ad link on google that read www.besbuy.mytechhelp.com is it the ads fault or your for not noticing A) that it's an ad and B) "mytechhelp.com" clearly isn't a URL for a legitimate site? It's not assigning blame, it's noting that there's a lack of common sense occurring. Unless you're telling me that it's your first time on the internet, which I'd have a hard time believing.
Click to expand...
Bingo!
 
Interstella5555 said:
Because they weren't tricked. If I put out an ad saying that I'm selling property with an ocean view in Indiana and you give me money, who's "fault" is it? If I'm looking for a contact number for a company and, instead of either going to the company's website or looking up local store decide to click on an ad link on google that read www.besbuy.mytechhelp.com is it the ads fault or your for not noticing A) that it's an ad and B) "mytechhelp.com" clearly isn't a URL for a legitimate site? It's not assigning blame, it's noting that there's a lack of common sense occurring. Unless you're telling me that it's your first time on the internet, which I'd have a hard time believing.
Click to expand...

If you put out an ad saying that you're selling property with an ocean view in indiana that's misrepresenting your product: your whole purpose is to attempt to trick some unfortunate soul, a.k.a a scam no matter how stupid or unbelievable it may seem. I can initiate a lawsuit and win even if I should know better than to think there's an ocean in Indiana on the grounds that you lied. Someone putting out an ad for a telephone number claiming to be Apple tech support is clearly out there to trick someone who's not familiar with such areas, and is also infringing on Apple's trademarks making this action illegal. So of course it's the ad's fault, they are blatantly lying. Would you excuse a kidnapper for luring a kid into a van promising candy by saying the kid should have known better and deserves it?
 
appleisking said:
If you put out an ad saying that you're selling property with an ocean view in indiana that's misrepresenting your product: your whole purpose is to attempt to trick some unfortunate soul, a.k.a a scam no matter how stupid or unbelievable it may seem. I can initiate a lawsuit and win even if I should know better than to think there's an ocean in Indiana on the grounds that you lied. Someone putting out an ad for a telephone number claiming to be Apple tech support is clearly out there to trick someone who's not familiar with such areas, and is also infringing on Apple's trademarks making this action illegal. So of course it's the ad's fault, they are blatantly lying. Would you excuse a kidnapper for luring a kid into a van promising candy by saying the kid should have known better and deserves it?
Click to expand...

If you can't tell me which one is different than the others, than yes, I'll blame you. Hell, it even says Ad above it for a hint!



I'm not even responding to your kidnapping comparison.
 
appleisking said:
If you put out an ad saying that you're selling property with an ocean view in indiana that's misrepresenting your product: your whole purpose is to attempt to trick some unfortunate soul, a.k.a a scam no matter how stupid or unbelievable it may seem. I can initiate a lawsuit and win even if I should know better than to think there's an ocean in Indiana on the grounds that you lied. Someone putting out an ad for a telephone number claiming to be Apple tech support is clearly out there to trick someone who's not familiar with such areas, and is also infringing on Apple's trademarks making this action illegal. So of course it's the ad's fault, they are blatantly lying. Would you excuse a kidnapper for luring a kid into a van promising candy by saying the kid should have known better and deserves it?
Click to expand...

I'm also pretty sure that any legal action you tried to take against me would be laughed out of court for common sense.
 
Interstella5555 said:
Apple support number is included in contacts, start there.
Click to expand...

A little late on the take are you? Did you read the posts where i was busy repairing a garden pipe with dirty hands and had to get the contact number with very few clicks/swipes/taps?

And he had cleverly masked the Apple URL with a "-" which was not all clear in the bright afternoon sunlight.

In other words, it was done it utmost hurry.

Goodness. Are you related to Mr.Spock? Have some humanity, for God's sake.
 
appleisking said:
If you put out an ad saying that you're selling property with an ocean view in indiana that's misrepresenting your product: your whole purpose is to attempt to trick some unfortunate soul, a.k.a a scam no matter how stupid or unbelievable it may seem. I can initiate a lawsuit and win even if I should know better than to think there's an ocean in Indiana on the grounds that you lied. Someone putting out an ad for a telephone number claiming to be Apple tech support is clearly out there to trick someone who's not familiar with such areas, and is also infringing on Apple's trademarks making this action illegal. So of course it's the ad's fault, they are blatantly lying. Would you excuse a kidnapper for luring a kid into a van promising candy by saying the kid should have known better and deserves it?
Click to expand...

And if you are a savvy customer you would know that Indiana is a landlocked state so you wouldn't fall for it.

The point is that consumers need to stop expecting that nothing out there is allowed to hurt them, that nothing can be misrepresented to them, or that there must be protections for them all over the place to make sure they don't do something stupid. Life isn't Disney World.

If you aren't savvy enough to tell the difference between legitimate technical support and some company trying to make a buck, then that's the price you pay for ignorance.

Luckily the OP caught the issue and can take care of it, but there are probably many out there who never figured it out.
 
Gregintosh said:
And if you are a savvy customer you would know that Indiana is a landlocked state so you wouldn't fall for it.

The point is that consumers need to stop expecting that nothing out there is allowed to hurt them, that nothing can be misrepresented to them, or that there must be protections for them all over the place to make sure they don't do something stupid. Life isn't Disney World.

If you aren't savvy enough to tell the difference between legitimate technical support and some company trying to make a buck, then that's the price you pay for ignorance.

Luckily the OP caught the issue and can take care of it, but there are probably many out there who never figured it out.
Click to expand...

Actually I don't own an iPhone anymore so I won't be going through this again :)
 
Gregintosh said:
That's fine, though I'm sure the same company owns equivalent fake support for all brands.
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Well no more clicking ads for me. I usually dont do that. I have never once fallen for spam or fake urls.But everyone slips and falls at one point or another i guess.

But you are right. This blood sucking con artists will imitate any brand.
 
Interstella5555 said:
Because they weren't tricked. If I put out an ad saying that I'm selling property with an ocean view in Indiana and you give me money, who's "fault" is it? If I'm looking for a contact number for a company and, instead of either going to the company's website or looking up local store decide to click on an ad link on google that read www.besbuy.mytechhelp.com is it the ads fault or your for not noticing A) that it's an ad and B) "mytechhelp.com" clearly isn't a URL for a legitimate site? It's not assigning blame, it's noting that there's a lack of common sense occurring. Unless you're telling me that it's your first time on the internet, which I'd have a hard time believing.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your clairvoyance. Third parties fix iPhones. There are legit ads on Google. And this website doesn't look too shabby: http://www.mytechhelp.com. But I'm glad you and AFDoc new it was bad just by looking at the results page.
 
PNutts said:
Congratulations on your clairvoyance. Third parties fix iPhones. There are legit ads on Google. And this website doesn't look too shabby: http://www.mytechhelp.com. But I'm glad you and AFDoc new it was bad just by looking at the results page.
Click to expand...

Sorry but my 7 year old picked out the correct apple link when I showed her the picture Interstella5555 posted. If she could do it I would hope most others could do the same.
 
By the way, do you still have the caller's phone number? I hope you reported it to Callercenter.com too. People could really use that information. The page is where most people report suspicious calls.
 
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