"I just kinda knew it wasn't right.." Convincing new phone scam impacting our area

Pamela Sarracino says she gets a lot of calls, but some recent ones to her home phone made her worry.

"It just kept calling back and it was the same message over and over again," said Sarracino. "It was Apple Inc and that it was an emergency and that my Apple iCloud had been compromised. "At first it was coming up Apple Inc and at first I thought well maybe it is."

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People all over our area are reporting these types of calls prompting the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to issue a warning. 

"This scam is particularly tricky in the sense that caller ID spoofing is being utilized where people are seeing Apple Inc. come across their caller ID," said BBB Western PA public relations director, Caitlin Driscoll.

The scammers are trying to get your personal information. An employee of Channel 11 reported that the scammer kept asking them to log on to their computer and the scammer claimed he could remotely protect her. Driscoll said that is real red flag, often time scammers are trying to put malware or tracking software on your computer.

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"Unfortunately these scams are likely to continue," said Driscoll. "The biggest thing to do is to be aware of the red flags, to question it, to take a step back, verify the details and even if you recognize that something is a scam, still report it to us at the BBB through our scam tracker program."

Driscoll reminds people to not trust their caller ID and contact customer service directly, "It's always best to hang up the phone and initiate that phone call yourself."

Sarracino said trust your gut, "I just kinda knew it wasn't right."

Apple said you should always use two-factor authentication to protect your Apple ID and if you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Apple, hang up and contact Applecare directly.

Cox Media Group