iphone 12 – Woman thought she’d been paid £900 for iPhone she sold on Facebook… but got a devastating surprise

A woman claims she fell victim to a nasty phone scam which saw her duped out of £900.

Claire Bray, 38, advertised a brand new iPhone 12 pro max for sale online and was contacted by a man who said he was interested in purchasing the device.

She arranged for him to pick up the phone from her home in Blackley on Tuesday (3 August) and had agreed a price of £900 for it.

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Claire said the man arrived at her house with a male friend, and she invited them in to look at the phone.

She claims she was handed an envelope with £900 in cash – which she counted and was happy that the money was all there.

But sometime between Claire showing the men out of her house, she believes the envelope was swapped.

As she went to put the money in her purse, she says the envelope had been replaced with an identical one, but with a £10 note and sheets of paper in it.

Claire, who says she is now scared to open her door, wants to raise awareness of the scam in the hope that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“I advertised a brand new £900 iPhone on Facebook and a man messaged me saying he was interested in purchasing it,” she said, speaking to the Manchester Evening News .

“On Tuesday night at 6pm they came to collect the phone. I have a doorbell which connects to my phone so I’ve got a screenshot of what they look like.

“There were two men and they came into the house. I felt comfortable with them and my friend was in too so I thought I’d rather them come inside.

“They handed me an envelope with money in it.”

Claire says she thoroughly checked the envelope and was positive that all the cash was there.

“In the space of me putting the envelope on the armchair and me showing them out of the house they have obviously swapped the envelope,” she said.

“When I came back and went to put the money in my purse it was the same envelope with a £10 note at the front but behind it was all paper.

“I tried to run after them but they were long gone.

“They gave me a mobile number which now doesn’t work and he’s blocked me on Facebook.”

Claire said she reported the incident to police, and had been waiting for officers to come and view her CCTV – which clearly shows the two men outside her house.

A spokesperson for GMP confirmed that no arrests had been made and enquiries were ongoing.

But Claire claims she received a message today (Thursday) from the force to say her crime has been filed ‘pending further information.’

“I’m now scared to even open my door,” she said.

“I just want to make people aware of what happened so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

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