East Vancouver Man Nearly Falls Victim of Rogers iPhone Scam, Identity Theft

A Vancouver man was very nearly scammed out of $2400 worth of Rogers iPhones by a would-be thief.

That’s according to a new report from CTV, which explains that East Vancouver resident Michael Hickey was recently almost a victim of a con artist that successfully accessed Hickey’s Rogers account, ordered two iPhones, and attempted to steal them from him, going as far as confronting him at his home.

Just minutes after a UPS courier delivered Hickey a package and warned him that a man with a fake ID had tried to intercept the package a block away, Hickey says that a “tall thin man” came to his door demanding he hand over the packages, claiming that he should have received them instead. The packages had Hickey’s name and address on them and contained two iPhone X models, despite him never having ordered them.

“This person came right to the house, it wasn’t a (simple) online fraud and it could’ve easily escalated to something else,” said Hickey.

Hickey claims that the scammer was able to access his Rogers account through telephone, even though he wasn’t able to provide neither Hickey’s birthdate nor current passcode. Hickey also says that the recorded conversation — which Rogers wouldn’t let CTV record — contained a portion where the service agent gave the scammer Hickey’s address.

“After a bunch of discussions with Rogers and a significant amount of fighting with them I was able to listen to the phone call recording where they had allowed all my accounts to be changed, including the passcode,” said Hickey. “They also ordered the phones in my name.”

Rogers says it immediately engaged its customer fraud unit and began an investigation into the alleged identity theft and phone order. They claim their security protocols were followed and “that their customer support agent had every reason to believe the caller was indeed Hickey.”



“We are very sorry about this customer’s experience,” Rogers said to CTV in a statement.

Hickey is not satisfied with Rogers’ handling of the issue, claiming that his interactions with the wireless provider went as far as a customer service agent accusing him of “trying to get away with something” and demanding that he return the iPhones.

“As Hickey leaves Rogers for a new cellular provider, he has high praise for the alert UPS driver who refused to give up a package to the crook. In an ironic twist, a package full of cutting-edge technology made its way to its intended recipient only because that driver knew and personally recognized Hickey and his address from frequent Amazon purchases,” concludes the report.

“If it wasn’t for him, no one would’ve believed me,” he said.