Friends Of Jeanett

A little over a week ago, Jeanett (my mother) googled the phone number to contact Apple’s customer care to see about having a charge removed from her account for an app she didn’t recall downloading. After the greeting “thank you for calling Apple..” and going through her security prompts, she lead into the question about the fee when the representative on the line asked if she had authorized “said persons name” on her account. Jeanett had never heard the name before and advised the rep of that. “Your account has been compromised Ms. Smokoff. It looks like there is fraud on your account.” From this point and for the next NINE hours, Jeanett would be running all over Lehi, UT. She was being advised she needed to purchase 2 Google gift cards for $500 each to solve the issues that were going on and to avoid compromising her bank information. As the call went on they were telling her that her home line and internet account was showing signs of hacking as well and the systems would need to be replaced. All of which would need to be paid for with Google gift cards that they would later reimburse her for. They would reimburse every single cent they had her spending to protect her account(s). The Apple representative had a lot of her personal information. If Jeanett said she would call back, they told her they would wait on hold as long as needed. If the call got disconnected, the called back. She grew very concerned but how could they be scamming her if she had called them?? After all was said and done, she was to have new phone and internet systems, a brand new iPhone XR, credits on her account and a complete refund to her bank account for what she paid in gift cards of what totaled out to be $10,000. I’m sure you guessed at least half way through that she was scammed. She wishes she would have figured it out then too. So do I and her 3 other daughters!! This came just weeks after she retired from a company she was with for 13 years. This nine hour phone call cost her, her entire savings, her bill money and maxed out credit cards. I’m sure it goes without saying, but she never got a call back. Her bank account is still empty and her credit card is still maxed out. She turned 65 today and after raising 4 girls as a single mother, working 2-3 jobs at a time to pay the bills, keep food on the table and make sure her kids could dance and play sports.. she should be able to feel relief, gratitude and like she has more than earned her right to kick back and put her feet up. It makes us sick to our stomachs that this happened to her. Of course we are doing what we can to keep her afloat but that’s about all we are doing. Please help us get her back on her feet and help her feel relief from this awful scam. If you can’t help, at the very least share. Let’s prevent this from happening to someone else! ❤️I know things like this happens all the time and unfortunately when it’s with gift cards, law enforcement and your bank can’t do anything to help. We still have a case open with Lehi PD and with Google.