Potential Apple Pay scam via text message

Jeff Donald wrote:

Yah, it’s like the old TV commercials where if you act before midnight they’ll triple your order.

What I find interesting is that, even knowing what I know, there is still an instant in which the artificial sense of urgency makes me want to act. The scammers really are tapping into some very basic human wiring.

That’s the social engineering part of it. There was a scam years ago about the IRS coming to your door to arrest you for back taxes. Just the three letters, was enough to scare tens of thousands into rushing out to by Apple Gift cards. There is now at least a page on their website devoted to how they do not accept Apple Gift cards for tax payments.

I received a text today from 51***132 and it said, "An Apple Pay transaction of $155.27 at the Apple Store was detected. Call apple support now 1+(8***242, If this is unauthorized."

Has anyone else received this and is this a scam. I believe it is.

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"Promoting" is actually a good thing in this case and the exact opposite of what they want. The scammers want as many people to fall for their scams as possible. They don't want people to be aware. Posting here = exposing the scam to more potential marks.

slay16 wrote:

"Promoting" is actually a good thing in this case and the exact opposite of what they want. The scammers want as many people to fall for their scams as possible. They don't want people to be aware. Posting here = exposing the scam to more potential marks.

Alas, the number of unwary folks is effectively unlimited, and the number of folks that can be encouraged into becoming (or are already) greedy or fearful or titillated or outranged or unwary is effectively endless.

Per XKCD, assume maybe 10,000 new people per day, too.

And these scams go back decades.

For the fake-purchase scam from this thread, each breach of accounts somewhere provides a yet larger pool of people that have not encountered this scam, too. And a larger pool for more for the toll highway scams. Or the “pervert” sextortion scams. Or all of these, and others the scammers are inventing.

And more importantly to this discussion, we know about these scams. Tell your friends and relatives. Some will learn, and will avoid the scams. Others will still get scammed.

As for some people that can get scammed repeatedly, in a circle of three people, I received a scam mail “from” one of the others in the circle. It was obviously a scam. (That mail provider had previously been breached, so who was contacting whom was known by the scammers.) I described the scam mail and showed the text of scam mail to the other two folks in the circle, and suggested that they not fall for it. Within two days, both received and both fell for the same exact scam.

Again, best tell your friends and relatives. And tell your legislative representatives, too.

Wanted to share: I just received a text message from 1-813-***-***1 telling me a charge of $177.47 has been deducted from my Apple ID via Apple Pay. If this is not done by you, Call support team now 1-844-***-***0. Looked up both numbers and they were fake. I don't believe I've ever used Apple Pay unless that is a credit card (not apple) attached to my phone for my monthly iPhone Apple Care.

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isj1 wrote:

Please don't provide phone numbers. Bots such as those used by Google scan webpages and may think that the number you provided is associated with Apple. Unfortunately this misinformation shows up in Google search results where some have been scammed thinking that Google had provided them factual information. Google also does not take responsibility for when this happens.

I got pretty much the same one but with a +18665xxxxx number and an internet link that I’m sure does not work because the URL has two pieces of chain linked together in front of it. Must have been AI that did not understand what kind of link it was? Most concerning is i just got an iPad the day before at the Apple Store and don’t use the apply pay thing.

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The other give away is the sense of urgency the messages always have. People don’t think, they just pay it and now the scammers have your card details.

Yah, it’s like the old TV commercials where if you act before midnight they’ll triple your order.

I now received the $143.95 apple store-CA scam.

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JEC070 wrote:

I had same text but for different amount, $183.49

The apps that the businesses use to generate these texts can be configured to randomly vary the claimed amount.

Yeah I received one too and thought it looked suspicious. Thanks everyone for confirming that it is in fact a scam

Another today shortly after I made a change on my phone regarding Apple Cash from a 63 910 number. Even gave me a case Number and A link to contact Apple security.

I received the following message.. is it phony?! Apple Approval Notice

We have noticed that your Apple iCloud id was recently used at "APPLE STORE - CA" for $143.95, paid by Apple Pay Pre Authorization. Also some suspicious sign in request and apple pay activation request detected. That looks like suspicious to us. In order to maintain the security and privacy of your account we have placed those request on hold. Your Photos, Data, Bank Information and Cards are at risk. If NOT you? talk to an Apple Representative. Failing may lead to auto debit and charge will not be reversed. Call +1 80874**** immediately to cancel this charge.

Billing Department :  Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support

Have a great day!

[Edited by Moderator]