What to do if you sent Apple gift cards to a scammer
You walked into a Walmart, bought $500 in Apple gift cards because the person on the phone said you owed back taxes, scratched off the codes, read them out loud, and hung up. Then your stomach dropped. This is one of the most common scams running right now. US victims sent more than $200 million in Apple gift cards to people they will never meet in the last year alone.
If you’re reading this within an hour of giving up the codes, you have the best shot you’ll ever have. Here’s what actually moves the needle.
What to do right now
Call Apple. The number is 1-800-275-2273. When the menu picks up, say “gift cards.” Tell the rep what happened and ask them to check whether the balance has been redeemed and to freeze the card if any funds remain. Have the receipt and the card itself nearby—they will ask for the 16-digit code on the back, the dollar amount, the purchase date, and the store. Speed is the whole game. Once a scammer has the code, they spend or convert it within minutes, sometimes seconds. If Apple can freeze an unredeemed balance, you may get some or all of it back. If the cards were already drained before you called, Apple cannot reverse the transactions.
While you’re on hold, take photos of the front and back of each card and the store receipt. You’ll need them.
What to do today
After Apple, file a report with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC doesn’t recover money for individuals, but the report becomes part of the broader fraud picture and adds weight if law enforcement ever pursues a case. Be specific: who contacted you (caller ID, email, platform), what they claimed (IRS, Amazon refund, jail bond, romance partner, employer), how much you sent, what brand of cards, what time.
If the amount was over a few hundred dollars or part of a wider scheme, also file at IC3.gov. That’s the FBI’s intake portal. Same drill: be specific.
Tell your bank you bought the cards under duress. Some banks will dispute the charge on the cards themselves if you paid with a debit or credit card. The success rate is low, but it costs nothing to ask.
What not to do
A scammer who got money from you once will often come back, sometimes within hours. Common follow-ups: “We need a smaller card to verify your identity so we can refund you.” Or a different caller who claims to be a fraud recovery agent and asks for an upfront fee. Both are the same scam continued. Apple will never ask for more gift cards to fix a previous transaction. No legitimate recovery service charges money upfront, and no legitimate agency calls you out of the blue.
Do not delete the texts, voicemails, or call logs from the original scammer. Those are evidence. If you’re not sure how to keep them safe, our guide to preserving evidence in the first 24 hours walks you through it.
If the money is already gone
This is the harder part. Apple gift card scams have low recovery rates once redemption happens. Most victims get nothing back. That’s not your failure. It’s the design of the scam.
If you’re sitting with that and not sure what to do next, our Investigation Help page covers the small-case attribution work we sometimes do—tracing the people behind the call, finding patterns across other reports. It’s not a refund, but for some people the answer to “who was it” is part of moving forward. For court-grade work on larger or financial-crime cases, we route to Rexxfield.
And if today is the day you realized something is wrong: it is not your fault. These scams are designed by professionals who do this for a living, against people who are doing it for the first time.
— Gus