French journalist Loïc Nicolay, who specializes in technology, had his apartment robbed in early 2024 and the thieves took his MacBook Air, purchased just a week before. When he had already lost hope of getting it back, however, all kinds of scams began to appear.
Nine months later, in November, he received an email from Apple and a cryptic SMS informing him that his Mac had been found and that he could see its location. Receiving the message simultaneously through two different media outlets, he thought it would be real. But if the message he received on his cell phone was credible, the email, of course, was not.
After connecting to the “Locate” application to see if it had appeared, he confirmed that it had not. So he looked closer and verified that the email address was fraudulent and it was a scam, according to what he himself told the media. .
After this attempted scam, time passed again and he was almost forgotten when on December 20 he received another unexpected message, although this time via WhatsApp. A certain Ana from the United Kingdom wrote to him saying the following:
“Hello, I’m Ana from the UK. Do you speak English? I have a MacBook and I think it belongs to you because it showed this number. We actually bought it online here in the UK. When we bought it it was working and then we found out it was a Lost or stolen MacBook. We were scammed. How can I return it if it really belongs to you? We also went to the police station, but they didn’t even help us. They just said they would try to catch the scammers, but to no avail. We told them to return the device to the store. owner, but they refused. They told us to go to the Apple Store so they could return it to the owner…”.
This message brought new hope to the man, but he was already alert and cautious. “The basic advice is not to share any personal information that could be used by the potential scammer,” he stressed.
After several conversations with the woman and Apple UK, she begins to have doubts about the veracity of what she is telling her. After contacting an Apple advisor he knows, he confirms that it is a scam to obtain his personal data. “Before we hang up, tell me that several people have been fooled by this relatively new method. As people pay more and more attention to the messages they receive, we must first give them confidence to click on a link,” he says .
Scams are increasing and we must remain vigilant. Thus, it is recommended to never click on any link coming from a stranger. “You also have to have a slightly pessimistic mindset and tell yourself that if it’s too good, it’s probably fake,” he points out.
