Scam? Claiming to be EE asking me to remove Find my iPhone from Apple device

[Johnat]

I have received a text claiming to be from EE stating: "We've been in contact with you a few times asking you to remove Find My iPhone from your returned Apple device. Since you've not successfully removed it, an equipment charge will be added to your account and the device will be destroyed. To avoid this charge follow these steps 'link appears' ( but not sharing the actual link here in case it is a scam and someone accidentally clicks on it!) to remove Find My iPhone. Thanks, EE".

I have returned a brand new iPhone recently but this was for an exchange as the wrong one was sent out in error, and the one returned was still in its' sealed packaging when it went back to them.

Is this a scam??

[bristolian]

That text has a genuine tone to it - I'm not familiar with Apple devices but if the "find my mobile device" can't be disabled on the phone itself (I know it can be on Android by a factory reset), then this charge is feasible.

Wise idea not posting the link, but is it pointing to an apple.com or ee.co.uk site?

[Peter_W]

Hey there @Johnat.

Welcome to the EE Community 👋

Have you returned any devices to us recently, either as part of a trade-in or for a fault replacement?
Find My iPhone being disabled is a requirement for any handset return, but if you can send us over a screenshot of the message we can get this double checked.

Peter

[Johnat]

Hi @Peter_W 

Thank you for your reply. Yes, due to a dispatch error (incorrect phone colour sent) a doorstep exchange was organised by the returns dept. and the wrong colour phone returned to EE completely unopened. I have spoken to someone today via the EE chat function and since then I think that I have established what has happened. There appears to be an issue with crossed over IMEI numbers/phones on the EE system. I have emailed the channel.returns dept. but note that I'm unlikely to get a response as that email is only for 14/30 day returns/exchanges, whereas my issue is different and more complicated. Apart from phoning, there doesn't appear to be anyone else that I can email in EE to get this sorted.

[Peter_W]

Thanks for explaining all of that @Johnat, I'm glad to hear you've managed to make a bit of progress in working out what's been happening. 

So just to confirm, the incorrect phone that you returned was never activated with your Apple ID?

Also if you head over to https://www.icloud.com/find, does this show any phone models that match the one you received?

Peter