Russians desperate for new iPhone scammed into buying bricks from fake sites
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Desperate Russians in the market for a new iPhone are falling foul of a new scam where they get something very different in exchange for their hard earned rubles instead.
According to Russian news outlet Baza on Telegram, scammers are praying on Russians unable to buy iPhones via legal means in the country because of Apple pulling out when the country first invaded Ukraine.
Online shops and marketplaces on Russia-based social media sites are now being used as a last ditch attempt at getting hold of the latest device – currently the 14 series, as the iPhone 15 is set to be announced later this week.
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However, Russians using random sites to buy the device are getting a huge shock when a parcel arrives, as there are now several reports of people unwrapping housing bricks instead of the iPhone.
But the scam takes an even more mad turn, as it has emerged that sellers are buying the fake items from themselves and then reporting it to the website/marketplace as a scam . . . and getting compensation back from the website in the process.
A source speaking to Baza – Russian for The Base – said: “The bottom line is this: the seller opens a fictitious 'shop' on the marketplace, after which he displays a non-existent product on the window, orders it from himself, and then returns it back.
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“Thus, he earns on compensation from the marketplace, and if you accidentally land on his page and order the same non-existent product, you get a dummy instead of an order.
“This fraud method has been actively developing since the beginning of 2023 on all marketplaces.
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“According to industry sources, some scammers have already been caught by the hand and even criminal cases have been initiated against them.”
Apple was one of the first companies to pull out of Russia, but several videos from within the country have shown that somehow, official Apple stores still exists and are selling new products – but these are not thought to be connected to Apple in any way.
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- Telegram
- Russia
- Apple
- iPhone
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