If you’re going to buy an expensive electronic device from someone you met online or in a gas station parking lot, don’t close the deal until you’ve opened up the boxes and made sure that they really contain an iPhone, and not rocks, pieces of wood, or… fruit. There’s a report out of Australia that a woman bought two iPhones and opened the boxes to find apples instead.

If this story is true, they’d have to be very small apples to fit inside an iPhone box – maybe crabapples. The victim had placed an online classified ad that said she was seeking iPhones, and someone contacted her offering to sell two new ones for AU$1500. They met up at a McDonald’s to perform the exchange, but for some reason the buyer didn’t look inside the box. She should have.

If you’re going to buy electronics through online classifieds, meeting up with the seller in person instead of sending off money to someone who is in a different city is a good start.

Brisbane woman scammed out of $1500 in Gumtree ‘iPhone’ sale [Herald Sun]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.