Apple users
are under threat from an iPhone scam that sees them urged to call a
number and pay up to £50 or $80 for a fix - or all their details will be
stolen, it can be revealed.
The
issue - which appears to have been affecting users in the US for at
least nine months but has since spread to Britain - sees a 'crash
report' message pop up while users are on the Safari internet app.
The
message appearing on the screen says: 'Warning iOS Crash Report - Due
to a third party application in your phone, iOS crashed. Contact support
for an immediate fix.'
Users are
then told to call one of a list of numbers - '1-800-480-4170' in the US
or '0800 279 6211' or '0800 652 4895' in the UK - and someone will then
ask for their credit card details to make a payment to solve the issue.
The
person answering the phone says a third party has been removing all
their details from their handset - and this can only be stopped by
paying up to £30 ($47) in Britain, or $80 (£51) in the US.
However, all they would be doing it handing their credit card details to the conmen.
Instead,
users have come up with a quick fix that involves placing your phone in
'airplane' mode, which turns off all connections, clearing your website
history and browsing data, and then reopening Safari
Apple users
have discussed the issue - which can apparently be averted by disabling
pop-up adverts on a device - on an official support forum which has had
more than 110,000 views.
Other
users say the issue is caused by adverts infected with malicious code,
causing the warning to appear on otherwise safe and respectable
websites.
One user named Dizzer88 wrote on the forum last November: 'I too called the phone number to see what was going on.
'It
went straight on hold when I called - didn't ring - and then when
someone came on the line, it was a woman who I could barely hear due to
the noise in the background.
'She stated
that my iOS crashed and was no longer something on my iPhone 5S and that
a third party was at that time taking all my info off my phone - nice
'scare tactic', eh?.
'She then said for $80 though she could reinstall iOS and just needed my credit card number -yeah, okay.
'So
I said that was ridiculous as I had been using apps and my phone the
whole time I was talking to her on speaker, and said I would call Apple
Support directly.
'She told me they would say the same thing about having to pay to have iOS reinstalled on my phone.
'I
said 'I highly doubt it' and told her I wouldn't pay the money and that
she was essentially full of c***. She then said - probably after
realising I wasn't buying any of it – 'okay, ma'am' and hung up on me.'
