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Apple Pay scam text threatens $16,500 in fake charges and a 35-minute deadline

8/10/2026

A callback scam, meaning a fraudulent text message written to make the recipient call a number the attacker controls, recently reached a Washington, D.C., resident named Paul C.

with a claim that Apple Pay had already charged him $8,250 and would charge him $8,250 more within 35 minutes. He sent the message to Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson for review instead.

What the text actually said The message opened with "$8,250.00 APPLE PAY - 35-MINUTE DEADLINE" and described the situation using words like "hemorrhaged," "catastrophic fraud event," and "verbally kill the pending charge." Legitimate fraud alerts use plain terms: charged, declined, frozen, pending.

They do not describe accounts as hemorrhaging money. The text cited case number CA-3321 and provided an 855 toll-free callback number.

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