Online iPhone Shopping Scam: High School Student Receives Empty Box in Facebook Marketplace Fraud

In recent years, with smartphones ubiquitous and online payment methods increasingly diversified, younger students spend more time browsing and shopping on social networks. Fraud syndicates have seized on students’ limited social experience, desire for bargains, and enthusiasm for luxury electronics to execute deceptive schemes.

A 16-year-old male high school student in Changhua posted in a Facebook buy-and-sell group seeking a secondhand Apple iPhone. Soon after, an unfamiliar netizen messaged him offering to sell an iPhone 7 for NT$14,500. Compared to brand-new units retailing near NT$20,000, the attractive NT$5,000 price drop immediately caught the student’s attention.

The seller initially feigned a desire to conduct a face-to-face transaction, asking where the student lived. Once the student revealed he resided in Changhua, the seller claimed to live far away in New Taipei City, asserting that in-person exchange was inconvenient and insisting on bank wire transfer prior to shipment.

Without suspecting foul play, the student wired the funds. Several days later, a parcel arrived. Upon tearing it open, he was horrified to find only an empty cardboard phone box—the iPhone was nowhere to be found. Only then did the student realize he had been thoroughly scammed.

Law enforcement authorities emphasized that online transactions featuring signs such as “unrealistically low pricing,” “sellers demanding private communication off-platform,” or “unwillingness to provide verifiable physical phone numbers or addresses” represent extreme fraud risks and should be strictly avoided.

Consumers must also remain vigilant against post-purchase impersonation scams where criminals pose as sellers or banking representatives claiming “order processing errors,” “accidental recurring charges,” or instructing victims to “operate an ATM to cancel installment payments.” For any suspicious activity, citizens are advised to immediately dial the government’s 165 Anti-Fraud Consultation Hotline for verification.