iPhone 12 mini Call from Apple to verify online purchase — legit or scam?

[ThePandaAgenda]

Earlier today, I placed an order for an iPhone 12 Mini on the official Apple website. About 5 minutes later, I received a call from 'Apple' asking:

1. If it was a work/personal purchase (I'm assuming this is due to me purchasing another iPhone about a month ago?)
2. For my name
3. About the number of iPhone purchases I've made (there've been quite a few over the years but I just named the last 2 ones I bought and the lady moved on)
4. If my address was the same as the one for my previous purchases (just a yes/no question)
5. The name of my bank (no further details)

Is this legit? I've bought so many things from the Apple website, a good number of them in the past couple of months, and up until today, I've never received such a call.

I've googled the number and the first result was a https://support.apple.com one but said number couldn't be found anywhere on the page. It's all very strange, IMO.

 

[ericwn]

Sounds weird for sure. Does the apple website in return display your order, have you also received an order confirmation email or something like order is being processed?

 

[ThePandaAgenda]

I selected the self pick-up option and have now got the phone! To add to the weirdness, I requested a callback from Apple and they called me back (using the exact same number as the one from the call that sparked this post) to inform me that it was probably a scam and that Apple would never call anyone unless they specifically requested it. How then, would the scammer know that I had just bought a 12 Mini? Just bizarre all around.

 

[iMarvin]

I mean if the lady verified that you purchased an iPhone 12 Mini without you telling her i think it's legit, because she couldn't of known that otherwise.

 

[shakopeemn]

It's odd. It makes me wonder if your computer is compromised.

 

[IowaLynn]

I'd suspect banking or credit card vendor.

 

[jetsam]

Earlier today, I placed an order for an iPhone 12 Mini on the official Apple website. About 5 minutes later, I received a call from 'Apple' asking:

1. If it was a work/personal purchase (I'm assuming this is due to me purchasing another iPhone about a month ago?)
2. For my name
3. About the number of iPhone purchases I've made (there've been quite a few over the years but I just named the last 2 ones I bought and the lady moved on)
4. If my address was the same as the one for my previous purchases (just a yes/no question)
5. The name of my bank (no further details)

Is this legit? I've bought so many things from the Apple website, a good number of them in the past couple of months, and up until today, I've never received such a call.

I've googled the number and the first result was a https://support.apple.com one but said number couldn't be found anywhere on the page. It's all very strange, IMO.

On any call like that, I usually reply with:

"I'm sorry, I can't give out that information on an incoming call. I'm sure you understand. I will call back on the main [company name] number. Please tell me how I should ask for the call to be directed."

 

[now i see it]

Your computer or wifi access or phone you used to call in the order was tapped/hacked. It's easy for a scammer to spoof a phone number

 

[nburwell]

I have purchased a fair amount of Apple products via Apple's site over the years and I have never received a phone call confirming any purchase. It definitely sounds a bit suspicious to me.

 

[7thson]

Your computer or wifi access or phone you used to call in the order was tapped/hacked. It's easy for a scammer to spoof a phone number

First thing I thought was “man in the middle.”

 

[gnasher729]

On any call like that, I usually reply with:

"I'm sorry, I can't give out that information on an incoming call. I'm sure you understand. I will call back on the main [company name] number. Please tell me how I should ask for the call to be directed."

That's polite. I usually tell James from Microsoft "your name is not ****ing James, and you don't work for ****ing Microsoft, so go and **** yourself". Unless it is something new, and I'm curious what their game is.

 

[ThePandaAgenda]

I'm on a MacBook Pro and everything seems fine on this end i.e. no strange profiles or extensions etc. Will check up on my router. I did a search and found https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/scam-alert.2138277/ where several users (OP, #16, #17, #18) have had the same thing happen to them, and they seem to believe that it was legit but everything still smells fishy.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Your computer or wifi access or phone you used to call in the order was tapped/hacked. It's easy for a scammer to spoof a phone number

This was a website order. The Apple website is https (SSL-encrypted), so unless it was man-in-the-middle (not truly the Apple website), there's no practical way for a third party to obtain the order information. Final confirmation of legitimacy is that if it had been man-in-the-middle the phone would not have been waiting for pickup at the Apple Store (although there's no way to know that 5 minutes after placing the order).

Altogether, this seems like a legitimate follow-up call, perhaps a randomly-selected transaction routed to whatever Apple calls their "loss prevention" department. There are many online/phone order vendors who do randomized spot-checks of orders.

Still, caution is always necessary.

 

[Glideslope]

I'm on a MacBook Pro and everything seems fine on this end i.e. no strange profiles or extensions etc. Will check up on my router. I did a search and found https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/scam-alert.2138277/ where several users (OP, #16, #17, #18) have had the same thing happen to them, and they seem to believe that it was legit but everything still smells fishy.

Just an FYI, if you have any Fraud Protection Monitoring Service ( LifeLock, Equifax Monitor, etc...) depending on your settings creditors/vendors may use a phone call to verify you are the actual person making the purchase. Not sure if Apple does this.

If you don’t , I’d check your MBP. Did you scan for Tracking Malware, or just look yourself?

 

[ThePandaAgenda]

The one thing I did differently this time is that I used the credit card already saved to my Apple ID (the one that appears under 'Payment and Shipping' in the settings app) instead of keying it in manually as I usually do.

Did you scan for Tracking Malware, or just look yourself?

I couldn't find any profiles, didn't see any extensions in Safari, and scanned my device with Malwarebytes.