UK Intelligence Agencies Ask Court To Say They're Immune From Having To Provide Evidence

Winner Of $10k From Apple Hung Up, Assuming It Was A Prank Call Or A Sales Call

from the well-trained dept

Tue, Jan 25th 2011 4:05am — Mike Masnick

If someone calls you up, claiming to be from Apple and telling you that you've won $10,000 for downloading the 10 billionth app in the iTunes App Store, you'd probably think it was a scam too. That's certainly what Gail Davis in the UK thought when it happened to her -- except that it actually turned out to be real. All I can say is kudos to Ms. Davis for recognizing just how unlikely the story was... and for then taking the second call and realizing it was actually true.

Filed Under: calls, itunes, prizes
Companies: apple

23 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 25 Jan 2011 @ 4:23am

In the age of Nigerian scammers, I see a weakness that can be exploited.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
abc gum, 25 Jan 2011 @ 4:31am

Thanks a lot Apple - now there will be tons of scam calls with similar stories.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
dirtydave0221, 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:02am

never would've picked up
I'm sure the number was private or blocked too. I never would've picked up in the first place. The proper etiquette would've been to send special agents to her house to give her a gigantic check.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- cgt (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:25am
  
  Re: never would've picked up
  No, they should kidnap her and take her to Apples underground HQ to meet Steve Mobs!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 6:10am
    
    Re: Re: never would've picked up
    And be impregnated with his alien seed! =]
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jan 2011 @ 6:40am
      
      Re: Re: Re: never would've picked up
      wait wait wait... he can reproduce?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 7:04am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: never would've picked up
        I can't remember what he calls it but 'reproduce' may be the closest equivalent in the English language.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        halley (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 10:15am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: never would've picked up
        "One More Thing!"
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shon Gale (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:09am

Be suspect of anything from Apple. It will kill your pocketbook and then kill the environment when you throw it away. Consumable products.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Steve R. (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:16am

The Sad State of Marketing
I would never have answered. We unfortunately live in a society were intrusive misleading marketing is considered a constitutionally protected right. Besides the lack of self-restraint, those selling products don't seem to think that fraudulent behavior is wrong. They have lost their moral compass. Those selling should begin to exhibit some self restraint and honesty.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:17am

I probably would have hung up on Apple a second time. But I didn't give them my current E-Mail and real phone number so I wouldn't have gotten a call anyways.

The comments in the cultofmac article were funny. We have people treating her like a celebrity, we have people trying to get her to sell it on e-Bay, and we have bitter people complaining because it didn't go to a family with 3 MACs and 4 iPods. Apple fans are a funny bunch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Rose M. Welch (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:46am
  
  Re:
  Agreed. :P
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Miles (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:42am

In her defense...
... it probably didn't help the conversation started out as "Hi, I'm from Apple."

I would have hung up too thinking it was a sales call. Nigerian scams and Apple are one in the same to me, as both are only interested in acquiring all your money in exchange for "trust".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rose M. Welch (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 5:48am

This post...
...brings this comic to mind. :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
btrussell (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 6:15am

I won a trip to Florida over the week-end.
I told them I had no desire to go to Florida, never did and never will, so I am not sure what contest I could have possibly entered to win said trip.

Winners should be notified by certified mail, with a phone call or e-mail informing recipient of such.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 6:15am

Formal
I would be a little more open if a formal letter was sent, perhaps through UPS or FedEx. Sorry to be a luddite here but phone calls and emails just scream scam. Unless it is from somebody you know, you have to think twice. At least with the letter you could have googled the number they wanted you to call and check out if it is legit or shown up on the 800-notes sites.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spaceman Spiff (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 7:16am

What a bunch of tight-asses Apple is... Just think, that if they just allocated 1/10 cent for each download to the prize, she would have received $10M instead of a measly $10K... :-) Anyway, I'm sure I would not have turned it (the $10K) down either!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tom Pritchard, 25 Jan 2011 @ 7:27am

(Gift card)
Hold up! It wasn't actually $10,000 cash. It was a gift card. So a free pass to the itunes and app store for life pretty much.
And then at the end, she said �We�re thinking of upgrading our nanos so we can join the party�. (as in get apps).

So ironically, it is likely to cost them money! I guess they can spend it to get 10,000 compressed, 256kbps songs in an annoying file format.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Berenerd (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 7:47am
  
  Re: (Gift card)
  You can buy Ipods and accessories from the Itunes store...atleast you used to be able to (for relatively high prices)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Johnny, 25 Jan 2011 @ 9:18am
    
    Re: Re: (Gift card)
    Wait so that's like "$10,000" of overpriced Apple products and iTune songs, which have like 1000% markup.... so that makes it worth like $1,000 for Apple. Real generous...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The eejit (profile), 25 Jan 2011 @ 9:31am
  
  Re: (Gift card)
  Correction, you can go up to 320kbps on iTunes. Just set it in your options.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Johnny, 25 Jan 2011 @ 9:20am

Save $10,000
Here is an easy to save $10,000 for everyone: don't be an Apple customer!

You'll probably save more than that over a life time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ben, 25 Jan 2011 @ 1:26pm

Really....again?
Apple really needs to work on their community outreach, every time Apple gives away a prize they end up freaking out the winners. The same thing happened less than a year ago.

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2010/02/winner-of-itunes-contest-thought-call-from-steve-jobs-was -a-prank.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]