New Scam: Sending Voice Messages Saying You Owe $1,000
Having your credit card information stolen is the worst thing ever. Opening your statement and seeing huge charges you didn’t make is stressful, and closing your card and managing all the linked subscriptions is a nightmare. So, if you get a call about an unauthorized charge for a brand new iPhone, you’ll probably want to investigate it thoroughly. Here’s the thing: it’s probably fraud.
I can tell you from personal experience: my wife constantly gets calls from unknown numbers, all leaving voicemails about charges for her iPhone. The voicemail starts with something like a standard hold tone. Suddenly, a voice says something like, “This is Amazon. We’re calling to authorize a $999 charge on your account for a recent Apple iPhone 16 Pro order. If you do not authorize this charge, please press one to contact customer support.” Your call could also be about a “$1,099 charge on your account for a recent Apple iPhone 17 Pro order.”
We’ve been inundated with calls, and except for the payment amount and the specific iPhone model, everything else in the message is identical. As expected, there are no such charges on our Amazon account or in our credit card transaction history. That’s because no one purchased an iPhone in our name or used our financial information: it was simply a scam.
If we had answered the phone and pressed “one” to speak to a “customer service representative,” or called back after listening to a voicemail, here’s what would likely have happened: the “representative” would have assured us they could dispute the charge, but of course, they would have needed some information from us first. Perhaps they would have needed to verify our credit card information, asking us to recite the numbers. Perhaps they would have needed to verify that we actually owned the Amazon account, asking for a two-factor authentication code to “verify our identity.” Either way, the scammers would have exploited our anxiety about the charge to extract some sensitive information from us, all for their own financial gain. If we had called back and complied, we would almost certainly have given the scammers the money we thought they were helping us get back.
What to do if you receive this voice message
If you receive a voicemail like this, don’t call back. If you pick up the phone and hear this message, don’t press “one”; simply hang up. You’re definitely being scammed, and there’s no risk in simply ignoring the caller entirely.
If you want to verify their claims, don’t speak to the caller at all. Instead, log into your Amazon account and check your order history. You’ll be able to see if similar iPhones have been ordered under your account, and if so, you can cancel the order there. Similarly, check your credit card history: if you don’t see a charge for the iPhone, it never happened. If it does, contact the credit card company directly using their official contact information.
Scammers use pressure tactics to stress you out and make you feel like time is of the essence. However, this is extremely rare. While it may seem common for companies like Amazon to call customers about large charges, it’s not. If you ever receive an unwanted message from someone claiming to represent your company, you can always end the conversation and contact you directly. If you contact official Amazon customer service or your credit card company, they can confirm or deny your claim.
While you can block the number, it may not help. Every time we received a call, it was from a different number, so I assume they don’t reuse numbers when calling back. Instead, you should strongly consider using one of Apple’s built-in anti-spam tools. If you’re using iOS 26 , you can enable call filtering from unknown numbers on your iPhone and requesting information before calling. Regardless of your iOS version, you can also disable mass blocking of unknown calls to prevent being interrupted by calls not in your contacts.