Warning about scams following iPhone 17

The "trade-in" trap

Ms. NTGM, residing in Son Kien commune, said she nearly had her personal information stolen after registering to participate in a program to trade in her old iPhone for a new one.

According to Ms. M, on September 15th, she received a call from an unknown number. The caller, named My, introduced herself as an employee of the Cellphones store system.

Many users fall victim to scams when buying, selling, or trading iPhones online.

“My asked me what phone I was using, and I told her I was using an iPhone 13 Pro Max. My then introduced me to the trade-in program for old iPhones to upgrade to a new iPhone that Cellphones was running. My said that all I had to do was send my old phone to the store, then add some money, and I could buy a 1TB iPhone 17 Pro Max at a much cheaper price than the market price. Because I wanted to upgrade my phone, I agreed to participate,” Ms. M recounted.

Ms. M asked My about the steps to follow, and My said that all she needed to do was take a picture of the phone she was using, along with her personal information, and send it to My so the store could assess it and give her a purchase price. The price the store offered under the program ranged from 7 to 15 million VND.

When Ms. M requested to go to the Cellphones store on Nguyen Trung Truc Street to conduct the transaction in person, My refused, citing that the branch in Rach Gia ward did not support this program because it was only implemented by stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ms. M continued to share: “I started to have doubts, so I didn't rush to provide pictures of my phone and personal information to My. I contacted the Cellphones store directly at the Nguyen Trung Truc branch in Rach Gia ward to inquire and learned that the store does offer trade-in programs for old iPhones, but customers must bring their phones in person for technical assessment and pricing. The price offered depends on the technical assessment results. There is no such thing as employees conducting trade-in programs with customers over the phone or on social media.”

Beware of the "lucky wheel"

N.P.N., a 7th-grade student residing in My Thuan commune, received a call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Lam and claimed to be an employee of The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World ) store. Lam called to inform N. that she was one of 100 lucky customers selected to participate in a raffle to win an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

“When my daughter asked for 200,000 VND to buy a phone card, I asked her about it, and she boasted that she had been selected to participate in a lucky draw to win a new iPhone 17. I was puzzled, because no one in the family had recently bought anything at the Mobile World store, and moreover, my daughter is a student, so how could she be a potential customer to participate in the lucky draw? Finding it strange, I asked my daughter to call the person in question to talk to them. When I questioned them, Lam gave evasive answers, failing to explain my questions and only focusing on the advantages of the new iPhone model, emphasizing that my family had the chance to own an iPhone for free through this store's customer appreciation program,” said Ms. PTNL, N's mother.

Upon visiting the nearest Mobile World store to inquire, Ms. L learned that there is currently no lucky draw program offering an iPhone 17 as the scammer claimed, nor is there any requirement to top up credit or complete tasks to win a phone. All information regarding promotions and exclusive offers is updated on Mobile World's official website for customers to learn about, stay informed, and participate in.

Besides the common scams mentioned above, fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated by embedding malware through fake links or creating websites with interfaces similar to official Apple websites or those of well-known phone retailers to trick and steal user information. Users need to be vigilant, always verify information, and avoid becoming victims of these scams.

Comment (0)