The Mandan Police Department is giving residents a “heads up” about an iPhone scam circulating in the area that cost one local woman $29,000.

According to police, on October 31, a Mandan woman was contacted by a male who claimed to work for Amazon. The caller claimed an iPhone had been purchased by the woman on her account and wanted to confirm it was a legitimate purchase.

The victim told the caller she had not purchased the phone. The caller then explained he would walk her through the refund process. The caller had the victim install a program which allowed him to control her computer. He had her go to a website which appeared to be Amazon’s. When the victim entered the amount of money to be refunded, the caller added another zero to the amount. This made the refund larger than the purchase amount. The caller explained to the victim she had entered the wrong amount and would need to wire the refund overpayment money back.

The woman completed a wire transfer of the money. The caller informed her it had not gone through and asked that it be sent again. The woman later found a total of three transfers had been completed from her bank account in the total amount of $28,965.

When the woman later contacted Amazon, she learned there had been no purchase on her account and was told Amazon would not contact her by phone if there was any suspicious activity on her account.

The Mandan Police Department advises anyone who receives a call like this to not give the caller any personal or banking information. Do not go to any website or download any programs the caller asks you to download.

The police advise you should contact the company in question yourself to confirm any suspected suspicious activity on your account. If you have any concerns about the call, hang up and contact your local law enforcement. If you have been a victim of a crime like this or have any information on a similar crime, you’re asked to contact local law enforcement.