It’s the holiday season and with Christmas just a week away it’s important to protect yourself and your loved ones from holiday related phone scams. The most common form of phone scam during the holidays are iTunes gift card scams. We’ll go over what you need to know about these scams and how to protect yourself.
Calls From Local Numbers
You may have noticed an uptick in the amount of calls you’ve recently been getting from unknown numbers this is due to the holidays and end of the year approaching. Scammers are taking advantage of the holiday season to trick vulnerable people into giving them money via iTunes gift cards.
Phone callers will demand that their victims pay bogus hospital bills, utility bills, back taxes, and prize fees, among other things. They will use scare tactics and threats in order to get what they want out of the people that they are targeting.
What to Do If You’re Being Targeted by iTunes Gift Card Scams
If you ever receive a call from someone asking that they make a payment via an iTunes gift card, or any type of gift card/pre-paid card, hang up immediately.
You should only use iTunes gift cards when making a purchase directly from iTunes or Apple. Never share the code on the back of the card with anyone over the phone.
Other Ways to Protect Yourself
Always be careful when answering a call from a phone number that isn’t in your contact book. If the call is unsolicited and claims to be from a company or organization that you trust inform them that you will call back at a later time. Once you’ve done this verify the phone number that called you using a white pages app on iPhone or the official website of the company or organization the caller claimed to be from.