Akron Police are warning area residents of an Apple iTunes scam, where theives are asking for over-the-phone payments for unpaid taxese, hospital bills, bail money for a family member and more.

One victim told Akron Detectives that he received an email he thought was from his boss ordering him to purchase $500 worth of iTunes gift cards and send them through email. That victim contacted Apple, who told them to file a police report.

See the full press release from APD below: 

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(APD) The Akron Police Department would like to warn our residents of a scam that has been hitting the Akron area.

A string of scams are taking place asking people to make payments over the phone for things such as taxes, hospital bills, bail money, debt collections, and utility bills. The scams are committed using many methods, from phone calls to emails.

In the most recent scam, the victim reported he received what he thought was an email from his boss to go purchase $500.00 worth of iTunes gift cards to be given to select customers at the business. Once the victim got the gift cards, he was instructed to take a picture of the gift card codes on the back of the cards and send them back to the email address. The victim did just what the email instructed to do. When the employee got back to work, he talked to his boss. The boss had no idea what the victim was talking about. That’s when the victim realized he was scammed by an unknown person. The victim immediately contacted Apple about the scam and was told to make a police report