It's not uncommon to hear news of customers getting fake products from online delivery. But this latest news takes the cake, as a man who ordered an iPhone 15 Pro Max directly from Apple got a disguised Android phone instead.
The man who goes by the username theEdmard on Reddit posted his experience just recently and made a detailed journal of what happened. He ordered the iPhone online from Apple's official UK website and got confirmation emails and tracking details from Apple. Everything looked as standard as it should until he opened the package.
Although the box was sealed, it looks like it was torn from the inside
The IMEI matches and the box is legit as it was tracked through Apple's UK website
When he opened the box, the iPhone 15 Pro already had a screen protector which seemed odd. There's also a 'chin' at the bottom of the phone which obviously screams fake. Moreover, the display wasn't OLED as the black area was lit up. Perhaps the most deceiving tactic was the poor setup process which is uncommon in Apple devices.
With those red flags, the user decided to skip all the setup and jump straight to the home page. At the home menu, Facebook, YouTube and the TikTok app were already installed, as well as experiencing a glitchy iOS and a poor camera launch. With this, he has asked Apple support on this issue and has yet to get back to him.
The chin at the bottom gave it away and the from the battery monitor page, someone used the device before
The weird thing about this is that, according to the Reddit user, the iPhone 15 Pro Max matches what he ordered in Titanium. It's speculated that someone might have switched the iPhone out with a fake one in between the logistics. Whatever the case is, this was a devious trap perhaps to steal personal information such as login IDs and passwords.
While we wait for further updates, this is indeed a new kind of scam that we just witnessed. We urged everyone to be careful and not to fall for unusual features on a device before signing in.
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