Scammers weaponize iPhone 15 overheating issue to steal users' phones

The scammers posing as big tech companies like Verizon are taking advantage of real iPhone 15’s overheating problem and trying to convince the iPhone owners to send them their phones as part of a fake “official” recall.

One of Mashable’s – news website – own reporter has reportedly become the target of this scam in recent days.

A Verizon spokesperson while commenting on this incident stated, “This sounds like a voice phishing scheme where the bad actor reaches out to a potential victim and pretends to be an IT or customer service rep from a major corporation and attempts to get information, or in this case, your actual phone.”

“To be clear, Verizon would never contact customers via phone for a recall or product issue.”

How the iPhone 15 overheating recall scam works

The tech reporter of Mashable – Cecily Mauran – started receiving phone calls from an unknown number shortly after ordering a new iPhone 15 from Verizon.

The caller claimed to be a Verizon representative and asked the reporter if she received her phone yet and told her they would call again for remote diagnostics about the iPhone 15 overheating issues.

Since the launch of the new iPhone 15, the overheating problem has been widely reported by several iPhone users.

After Mauran received her phone, she also received another call from a person claiming to be a Verizon representative.

“They said the new iPhone 15s were having overheating issues and…they’d received communication from Apple that my phone was one of the defective devices,” Mauran said. “They said they needed to come and pick up my phone right away, because it was ‘dangerous’.”

The scammer, arranged for FedEx to pick up her iPhone, ensuring her that the company would also arrange a brand-new iPhone 15.

After getting so many calls, the reporter got suspicious and immediately called the direct number listed on Verizon’s official website, where a real Verizon representative confirmed to the Mashable reporter that the phone call, she received was not official but a scam call.

During this phase, the FedEx truck already arrived but Mauran did not hand over her iPhone to FedEx. After explaining the situation, the driver provided the reporter with the delivery details of where the iPhone was scheduled to be delivered.

The physical address which was provided by the scammer was in Miami, Florida and the phone number with a Kentucky area code.

The scammer tried to make it look like the iPhone 15 was going to a real Verizon place, as the recipient was listed as “RETUNS PROCESING CENTER,” however, the words “returns” and “processing” were spelled incorrectly.

Later, after the FedEx truck left, Mauran got another call from the scammer for pickup confirmation, but she confronted them.

The caller tried to convince Mauran that they were legitimately from Verizon and told her that a supervisor would call her for confirmation.

Meanwhile, she has not received any call since, claiming to be from Verizon.