Apple Inc called me. It’s a faaaake! (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Wow, I got a phone call from Apple Inc on my iPhone. It said that my iCloud account has been breached. I hung up but I think it said I can talk to a rep to discuss what needs to be done about my account. I was pretty sure it was a scam and I thought, why should Apple call me?

I looked it up and I see it’s a scam for sure. One should never give out credit card or SSN by email or text. I’m a little surprised by this call. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten phishing emails. But a call on my iPhone with a caller ID that is Apple Inc is a first for me.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

So far this year I got a recorded message from "Apple Support" telling me to call them back at least 50 times with one day receiving 4 calls from different numbers and locations. I never answer the call but they love to call me at any time or day.

 

[Nelson Au]

Wow, that sounds really annoying. Hope they stopped.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Though it’s rarely from someone pretending to be Apple, I get about 3-6 robocalls per day. It’s at the point where I only answer if I know the caller.

 

[dpippel]

Never answer a call from an unknown caller. If it's important and/or legit, they'll leave a voicemail. If they don't, block the number.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I feel for people who are in situations who can’t afford to do that, and must answer every phone call.

If you’re looking for a job, you have to pick up the phone. A lot of employers won’t leave a message; they’ll simply move on to the next application and cross you off the list.

If you’re in the medical profession, you probably have to pick up. 911 operators always have to answer, hospital switchboard operators always have to answer, and they’ve been inundated with spam calls that clog up their network, but the danger of not answering and missing an emergency is too great to take the chance.

 

[DaveF]

I only get called by Chinese or Romanian callers speaking Chinese or Romanian. No one ever calls me with useful iCloud breach information!

 

[dpippel]

I feel for people who are in situations who can’t afford to do that, and must answer every phone call.

If you’re looking for a job, you have to pick up the phone. A lot of employers won’t leave a message; they’ll simply move on to the next application and cross you off the list.

If you’re in the medical profession, you probably have to pick up. 911 operators always have to answer, hospital switchboard operators always have to answer, and they’ve been inundated with spam calls that clog up their network, but the danger of not answering and missing an emergency is too great to take the chance.

Absolutely. I was talking about average Joes and their personal cell phones.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I feel for people who are in situations who can’t afford to do that, and must answer every phone call.

If you’re looking for a job, you have to pick up the phone. A lot of employers won’t leave a message; they’ll simply move on to the next application and cross you off the list.

If you’re in the medical profession, you probably have to pick up. 911 operators always have to answer, hospital switchboard operators always have to answer, and they’ve been inundated with spam calls that clog up their network, but the danger of not answering and missing an emergency is too great to take the chance.

Even worse, my doctor's office does not use caller ID, and they often call from different numbers, so a lot of their calls to me go unanswered, and due to HIPAA laws, they feel like thet are unable to leave a voice mail. Really? Not even a "Hi Mr. Erwin, this is so and so from Dr. Chen's office. Please call us back at your earliest convenience."

 

[Todd Erwin]

I only get called by Chinese or Romanian callers speaking Chinese or Romanian. No one ever calls me with useful iCloud breach information!

I get tons of those every day, probably because I never changed my cell phone number when I moved from SoCal.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Even worse, my doctor's office does not use caller ID, and they often call from different numbers, so a lot of their calls to me go unanswered, and due to HIPAA laws, they feel like thet are unable to leave a voice mail. Really? Not even a "Hi Mr. Erwin, this is so and so from Dr. Chen's office. Please call us back at your earliest convenience."

That’s so irritating and that’s not actually what HIPAA says. Additionally, most doctor’s offices have a form you can fill out where you can presign your approval for them to leave you voice messages. It might be worth checking with them to see if they have such a form there.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Even worse, my doctor's office does not use caller ID, and they often call from different numbers, so a lot of their calls to me go unanswered, and due to HIPAA laws, they feel like thet are unable to leave a voice mail. Really? Not even a "Hi Mr. Erwin, this is so and so from Dr. Chen's office. Please call us back at your earliest convenience."

Your doctor’s office staff must have flunked their HIPAA training (I had to go through it every year before retiring). There is nothing in HIPAA preventing them from leaving you a message that they called.

While Apple has never called me, I have received emails from “Amazon” informing me that there is a problem with my default payment method and to press a link to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who fall for this crap.

I use Nomorobo on our home phone. It blocks most robot calls, and you can report calls that get through. It’s free for land lines, but there is a monthly charge for cell phones. I use a different app on my cell phone.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I answered one of those "The warranty on your vehicle is about to expire" calls, and when presented with the option of opting out by pressing 2, I made the mistake of doing so. Apparently, all that does is notify the spammer that there's an actual human being at the other end of the line. Because now, instead of getting a couple a week, I get 5 or 6 a day.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Never answer a call from an unknown caller. If it's important and/or legit, they'll leave a voicemail. If they don't, block the number.

That, for me is not often possible. My doctors offices will call me and sometimes I think the person is using their own phone. If it’s my local area code, I answer it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That’s the other problem I have. The spammers always spoof within my area code so it seems local. I’ve missed important calls from trying to screen so I’m really in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. If I know I’m expecting a callback on a certain day I’ll probably err on the side of picking up. If I’m not expecting anything, I’ll err on the side of letting it go to voicemail.

 

[DaveF]

I’ve moved so my local area code is no longer my cell number. So any number sharing my area code I can safely ignore.

Doctors offices and such I tend to have in my contacts so caller ID tells me it’s legit. Or, they leave a message and I call back.

 

[dpippel]

I just don't have a problem with not answering calls from unknown numbers, no matter the area code. If it's legit and important, I always get a voicemail. I've never missed something real that required my attention because of this.

 

[Nelson Au]

I get a ton of calls from unknown numbers and places I don’t know anyone from as well. So like Doug above, I don’t answer those. But this one stood out as it actually said Apple Inc. That was a pretty good trick because the scammers knew they might be able to trick an iPhone user. So I have to give them some credit for a pretty good trick. It had me wondering a bit, wait, why is Apple calling me.

My dentist sends me emails and texts, they asked what my preference was.

 

[Clinton McClure]

My PCP never calls for appointment reminders. My dentist, cardiologist, and ophthalmologist offices send me text reminders for upcoming appointments or one of the office staff will call in person from the main office number if they are trying to reach me to make a schedule change.

Other than that, I ignore every phone call that isn’t from a personal friend, my wife, her parents, or my parents.

 

[Nelson Au]

Spoofing, good to know. I think I’ve heard that term before. I got a call today from a caller whose name was mine!