Consumer complaint received 2026-02-17 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a text from someone posing as the Apple XXXX XXXX informing me that I had suspicious activities going on with my cell phone and suspicious signs of fraud with my credit/bank accounts, due to my cellphone is under attack and that someone has accessed my XXXX ID and they are running up charges. They ask that I call XXXX immediately to cancel these charges, and if I did not call right away, I would not be able to reverse the charges. 

Normally, I would not have fallen for this, but I was just returning home from a long drive visiting my son in Mississippi who was in the hospital on XXXX XXXX, and I was mental drained I was not thinking clearly, because I believed them and I called the # listed above, I trusted the #, because the text read XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. ( looking back, I feel so very stupid ), as my error in judgment has cost me a lot of time and money. 

When calling the # a man answered stating I reached apple XXXX. I proceeded to tell him about the text. He acted as if he was pulling up my info and proceeded to tell me that my cell is being hacked and that they could see multiple hackers currently attacking my cell and cloud ID info. He asked if I would give him access to my cell so he could try and block or stop them from accessing my data. He gave me a software app to download so he could enter my phone. Unfortunately, I no longer recall the name of the app, and I deleted it after discovering I had been scammed. 

After he accessed my cell, he asked if he could check to ensure my bank account and 2 other credit card apps loaded on my cell show any signs of hackers. One card was for Apple and the other for XXXX XXXX, and my bank is with XXXX XXXX. He asked did I saw anything suspicious ; I stated everything looked okay to me. He asked if there are any unusual transactions listed ; I said no, everything looks fine. I did not see anything that looked fraudulent. He proceeds to looking into my apple account and ask again does everything look okay, I said yes, everything looks fine. He then said we will monitor all my accounts for 24hrs, but first he needed me to make some transactions, so he could tell my transactions from the hacker, because on his end he can see the hackers trying to get into my accounts and I must make a few transactions while he is on the phone, because his presence on the phone is the only protection I have at this point from the hackers taking over my cellphone. 
At some point in the conversation, he switched lines and called me from what he called a secure line from number this # XXXX. 
After accessing my cell, he asked me to go into my apple account and purchase a few XXXX gift cards while he was on my phone, I did it. I purchased XXXX. Then he asks me to drive to XXXX and buy ( XXXX ) XXXX dollars gift cards, I asked why, I said this doesn't make sense. He then stated ; I know this sounds odd, but we must do this in order to see my transactions from the other multiple locations - from this point in time forward. He said, to know what belongs to me from the charges the hackers are making. He stated none of the transactions he's making with me will be processed, he said once the investigation is over my account will be reimbursed. He acted like he needed this for proof. He said this is the only way to catch the hackers, therefore I left and went to XXXX. The whole time he remained on the phone with me. He told me not to tell anyone that he was on the call with me ; even after I got into the store, do not mention anything about the call to anyone and to only speak to him once I return to the car. He said anybody could be on the scam including friends, family, and neighbors, it could be anyone. He kept repeating I'm only on the phone for your protection and that if the hacker catches on that I am aware of them and have informed the authorities they will wipeout all of my accounts. I proceeded into XXXX and purchased ( XXXX ) {$500.00} gift cards. 1 gift card purchased with my Apple Card the other with my XXXX XXXX card. The Apple card for some reason stopped working and would not purchase anymore gift cards. 
After purchase and returning to my car he asked that I take a picture of the gift card numbers so he could keep track. Then he asked me to go to XXXX XXXX, I was like what!! Why, I said this doesn't feel right. He insisted stating he needs multiple transactions, he needed to see my footprints vs the hackers. I told him, I am a long way from XXXX XXXX about 30-45mins ( I also have a XXXX XXXX card with app on cell, as well, he probably saw it ). He then asked what about XXXX, I told him there's one up the street. 
I go to XXXX, by now I'm getting scared, feeling something is off. So, once I got into XXXX, I attempted to disconnect the call. He immediately called me back saying we got disconnected. He said please keep your line open, because your cell is being monitored closely by the hackers. I proceeded to buy 2 more gift cards. 1 with my XXXX XXXX card XXXX and 1 with my apple card XXXX, I purchased a XXXX drink while in the store, as well on my Apple Card which begins to accept transactions again. Total transaction this time on my Apple Card was XXXX. After I returned to my car I was in tears at this point and very upset. I told him this doesn't feel right. He said, okay, this is the last stop. He said he had enough info to track the hackers. He asked for a picture of the gift card numbers and said he will be available and monitoring my cell for the next 24hrs and if I have any questions, I could call on the secure line at XXXX. He reiterated not to make any calls from this cell. After hanging up I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. He said I could not use my cell, because the hackers were listening, so it took me a few to trust my gut and call Apple XXXX to confirm this. I contacted XXXX at XXXX to learn that it wasn't not them and that I had been scammed. 
I told apple what happened and they took a report, they advised that I also contact my carrier XXXX so they could run a check of my cell. I called XXXX and they said my line was clear. I called XXXX XXXX, and my bank to report the incident. I changed all my information and replaced my bank account with a new bank account # and card. 
I received new credit cards, and a new phone and new phone number, as well. XXXX XXXX did not give me any issue they just canceled the transactions, but the Apple Card has not. I have nothing to do with this. I have truly been scammed. It's embarrassing. 
The only thing that I can think of doing at this point is to file this complaint and hopefully they will be assured I have been scammed. I have filed several disputes with XXXX XXXX Apple Card, filed a police report, notified Apple Card the very same day of this scam lodged against me, I changed bank accounts, which caused a chain reaction to update all things related to my banking needs, changed credit cards. I did everything that I thought would protect me going forward. I asked Apple, what do they need from me to resolve this issue in my favor and they stated : I approved the transactions. They are blaming me. 

I'm at a loss and I'm hoping you can help, as I can not afford {$1500.00} dollars ' worth of charges, to which I did not receive merchandise for. I'm not sure what else I can give them as proof that I'm not a part of this scam. I truly thought since I called Apple Card and reported this while the charges were in pending status, before the transactions were ever approved that all this would be okay. When I notified XXXX about this the transaction had not gone through, all transactions were in pending status. Just like with XXXX XXXX. And when I ask them about how come they approved the charges after I reported them as fraud charges, they just say, it was approved by me. And that answer just doesn't make sense to me. I've been appealing to this dispute for over a year. I truly can not afford this. It's been over 45 days since my last denial from Apple Card which was on XX/XX/XXXX. 
I have attached the police report response, screen shot of the actual text received from hacker and my cellphone records to show that I reported this issue to Apple Card the same day and the scammer phone numbers used which shows how long the scammer kept me on the call while making these transactions. 
Merchant XXXX {$500.00} case ID # XXXX Merchant XXXX {$1000.00} case ID # XXXX Thank you, for listening. I hope you can help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief