SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman is warning residents of a scam which appears to be targeting people who use Apple phones and computers.

The woman said she was contacted on Oct. 30 by a man who claimed to be working for Apple and warned her that her account had been compromised by hackers in Europe and the company had developed a ruse to catch them in the act.

The catch? She had to purchase a $500 gift card to Target in order to spring the trap on the hackers.

"I thought it was Apple.com," said the woman, 66. "He sounded official."

After providing the number to a card she purchased at a local grocery store, the man on the line tried to pressure her to obtain three more $500 gift cards in order to keep the ruse going and to make sure the purported hackers were unaware of what was happening. With her bank close by, she advised the man she was headed there to obtain assistance.

The man uttered profanity and hung up the phone, she said. She tried calling him back at the number captured by her phone, which had a 208 area code, but it was answered by a woman who said she was at the bedside of her dying father, suggesting the perpetrator had spoofed the number to make it appear legitimate.

The caller appeared to have an eastern Indian accent, but she also noticed traces of a German accent.

The resident went to her bank, which confirmed the Target gift card had been utilized by the scammer, leaving her with no further recourse.

The woman said she contacted local and federal authorities, in addition to Apple's fraud department.

The woman said she was raising the arm in the hope of protecting other Bonner County residents from the scam.

"I don't want any senior citizens to go through what I went through," she said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com or followed on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.