Recently, Prescott Police officers investigated a report of a fraud involving prepaid I-tunes and Walmart gift cards. On July 9th, 2020, a local victim of the fraud reported that he and his wife had been contacted by a male caller who claimed to be an Apple Technical Support employee. The male caller informed the couple that their Apple accounts had been hacked and there was a risk to their personal information being compromised. The male caller stated he could recover their accounts but needed the couple to purchase I-Tunes and Walmart gift cards. The caller indicated the money would be reimbursed after the accounts were restored. Over a two day period, the couple purchased a multitude of gift cards totaling approximately $13,000.00. The victim attempted to contact the original caller seeking reimbursement after providing the card numbers but was unsuccessful. Later, the victims contacted Apple support directly and learned the call had been fraudulent.
The Prescott Police Department would like to urge our community to remain vigilant about these and similar phone scams in which the caller claims to be from a reputable business or company. If you receive a call such as this, hang-up and contact that company directly or contact the police department for further investigation. Never provide personal information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, debit card numbers, social security numbers or any other personal information to those who call under these types of circumstances. No reputable business or agency will ever ask you to purchase gift cards in lieu of payment for any product or service.