Q: Help, my mother was scammed $17,000 worth of iTunes cards

My 86 years old mother was scammed by someone who claimed to be her grandson over the phone. He told my mother that he was involved in a car accident and locked up in jail. He wanted my mother to transfer money to him to help with legal fee. The fake grandson bagged my mother not to tell me. My mother was panicked and she took money out of the bank and asked them how to transfer the cash to them. They instructed my mother to buy iTunes card and read them the numbers over the phone. My mother purchased altogether 39 iTunes cards which is worth $17,000 (mostly $500 each card).

After I found out, I called 911 to report the scam. I also placed a call to apple asking for help. The account manager named Lisa helped me track down all the numbers. To my relief, she told me that out of the 39 cards, 14 had been redeemed and 25 remained unused. She lockup these numbers and told me no one can use them anymore. She then told me that she could either refund me with iTunes credits or I could go to the local store with police report to file for refund. I decided to go to the store first to try out my luck.

I went to the stores with the police report and was told that they could not help because the money would go to Apple account 72 hours after the purchase. My best bet is to get those itunes credits Apple promised me.

I called Apple twice this morning to talk to iTunes account managers respectively. Both told me that Apple could not give me credits back. They said that they are not responsible for any iTunes cards involved in a scam. I told them what Lisa had promised me and they said they could offer me what Lisa has offered me. One of the manger even said that if you are robbed, you should go to the police, not Apple!

I cannot believe what I’ve heard. Apple froze these numbers, so nobody including me can use them anymore. In this case, Apple holds the money and they should issue me a refund. I called back Apple again asking for an appeal process number, I was given a link to their legal department. I clicked on the link and found out that it was the legal Q&A page without any email addresses or phone numbers to call.

Could anyone here tell me how I can process the appeal? There must be a place that Apple can respond to these complaints. Please, I need help here!