4 ms·

I mean, there's a very practical reason for this. Back when the scam was popular, they asked you to send a Western Union transfer to Nigeria. I had a girl I was

by c3534l 7y ago

I mean, there's a very practical reason for this. Back when the scam was popular, they asked you to send a Western Union transfer to Nigeria. I had a girl I was chatting with ask me to donate money to needy kids in Africa, which happened to be in Nigeria. Now they want iTunes gift cards so they can resell them. It's not game theory, it's just regular old money laundering.

reaperducer 7y ago
Now they want iTunes gift cards so they can resell them. Interestingly, when I bought an iTunes gift card at the Apple Store last week for a Christmas present, the Apple guy ringing me up required me to sign a document stating that I wasn't trying to pay someone with them. Some kind of scam prevention mechanism. I wonder how well it works.
- wolco 7y ago
  They required you to sign a form that you wouldn't trade it for goods or services? Did you sign it? That part feels like the scam.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    No, they asked me to sign a form (on an iPhone, FWIW) stating that I knew that strangers calling out of the blue and asking for payment in iTunes cards was a scam.
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  Doesn’t that violate the first sale doctrine?
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    How exactly? Apple doesn't prevent the sale, it just educates the purchaser who then acknowledges that they were warned.
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      The way OP worded it, it sounded like they (Apple) were saying, “you agree not to ‘give’ this card to someone who is a scammer”
- 6700417 7y ago
  Have a friend whose father was scammed out of thousands of dollars. The ploy was that an "attorney" from another state called to say how the college-aged grandson was in trouble and that the fastest way to make bail and retain said attorney was to purchase thousands of dollars in gift cards that are redeemable online and then read the redemption codes off. He ended up buying something like $15k in gift cards in one place and read them off, and sure enough the scammer hung up right after getting all the info. It all sounds obviously fishy to you and I, but an intelligent but panicked elderly man concerned about his grandson's wellbeing fell for it. They don't need very many victims to make it worth their while.

by c3534l 7y ago

reaperducer 7y ago

Now they want iTunes gift cards so they can resell them. Interestingly, when I bought an iTunes gift card at the Apple Store last week for a Christmas present, the Apple guy ringing me up required me to sign a document stating that I wasn't trying to pay someone with them. Some kind of scam prevention mechanism. I wonder how well it works.

wolco 7y ago
They required you to sign a form that you wouldn't trade it for goods or services? Did you sign it? That part feels like the scam.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  No, they asked me to sign a form (on an iPhone, FWIW) stating that I knew that strangers calling out of the blue and asking for payment in iTunes cards was a scam.
colejohnson66 7y ago
Doesn’t that violate the first sale doctrine?
- reaperducer 7y ago
  How exactly? Apple doesn't prevent the sale, it just educates the purchaser who then acknowledges that they were warned.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    The way OP worded it, it sounded like they (Apple) were saying, “you agree not to ‘give’ this card to someone who is a scammer”
6700417 7y ago
Have a friend whose father was scammed out of thousands of dollars. The ploy was that an "attorney" from another state called to say how the college-aged grandson was in trouble and that the fastest way to make bail and retain said attorney was to purchase thousands of dollars in gift cards that are redeemable online and then read the redemption codes off. He ended up buying something like $15k in gift cards in one place and read them off, and sure enough the scammer hung up right after getting all the info. It all sounds obviously fishy to you and I, but an intelligent but panicked elderly man concerned about his grandson's wellbeing fell for it. They don't need very many victims to make it worth their while.