As is routine for many business closings, Gabriel Oliveira saw an announcement for a iPhone 14 Pro Max no martekplace do Facebook. He agreed with the person responsible for the advertisement that he would give his iPhone 12 Pro and another R$1,700 for iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The agreement was signed and they arranged to meet in Tatuapé, a neighborhood in the East Zone of São Paulo.
A friend of Gabriel’s also went to accompany him. There, the scammer actually presented a legitimate iPhone 14 Pro Max, but the device had only 1% battery.
As Gabriel told us, they went to another point at Tatuapé station.. “If I’m not mistaken, he (the person responsible for the scam) said: I need a paperclip to open the chip drawer”. They got the clip, Gabriel removed the chip from his cell phone and put it in the iPhone 14 Pro Max that would be part of the agreement.
Gabriel says he tinkered with the device a bit to test some functions, such as Face ID, specifications and iCloud. He then reset his iPhone 12 Pro to factory settings, which was part of the agreement to pay off the amount that would be paid for the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The person in charge of the sale put the iPhone 14 Pro Max in the box and in a bag. Moments later, another man appeared out of nowhere and started saying that the three of them, Gabriel, his friend and the person in charge of the iPhone ad, were selling tickets for access to the subway.
“Hey, bro, you guys are selling tickets here, I’m working here, I’m selling them too, you guys are getting in my way,” the man allegedly said. Gabriel claims he told him they weren’t selling anything, while the man continued making threats.
The victim believes that at that exact moment, due to a diversion of attention from the focus that was the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the scammer took the bag and exchanged it for another one, with another device, which he and his friend did not see.
After the man who arrived making accusations left, Gabriel received the bag and completed the second stage of the agreement, sending the money. Initially, Pix was considered, but the scammer himself offered to pay the fare so that Gabriel could withdraw the money. He withdrew the R$1,700 and the man left.
Gabriel says he opened the box again, and everything seemed correct. “It had the same case, the same screen protector, everything was the same.” Since it was discharged, it was not possible to test the internal functions.
Gabriel then left. He and his friend went to a place where the motorcycle of his friend who accompanied him would be serviced. When he plugged the charger into the socket and touched the device, Gabriel realized that he had been scammed. And with an added bonus: the device’s battery doesn’t go below 1%. Adding the value of his iPhone 12 Pro to the additional R$1,700 given to the scammer, Gabriel estimates a loss of R$4,500.
“I turned on my phone and saw that the edges were all half-open, it was a very poorly done thing. I said, ‘Wow, I got hit, I can’t believe it.’ I turned the phone around and saw that the cameras were all uneven.”“In addition to the person responsible for the advertisement, Gabriel believes that the man who arrived and approached him about selling tickets was also part of the scheme.
The incident happened this Wednesday (25). Gabriel said he doesn’t know if he will file a police report. “I don’t know if I’m going to file a police report, because I don’t have the person’s real name, and it also happened on the subway. I don’t know if they would make the cameras available to check their faces.
Source: https://www.hardware.com.br/noticias/brasileiro-e-enganado-com-iphone-14-pro-max-falso-e-perde-r-4-500.html
