The 21-year-old Brisbane woman had placed an advertisement in an online buy-and-sell site saying she was looking to purchase a number of iPhones.
Police in the Queensland town of Upper Mt Gravatt, near Brisbane, said that not long after the advert was placed in the Gumtree site a woman called and said she had two Apples for sale.
Senior Constable Jess Hopkin of the Upper Mt Gravatt Crime Prevention Unit said the two women arranged to meet at a McDonald's outlet, where the transaction took place.
The purchaser handed over $1500, the equivalent of £800, and was given two new iPhone boxes in return, the Quest community newspaper of Queensland reported today. Her mistake was to not look inside.
On returning home the young woman opened the boxes and found to her horror that they contained real apples.
Senior Constable Hopkin warned people to be wary when they buy anything online.
'Don't stay away because most people are doing the right thing - but be smart about what you buy,' she said.
'If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. It's really just common sense.'
Commentators writing on an online site weren't letting the buyer off the hook with their criticism.
'I don't know anyone that would hand over $1500 to a stranger without checking the item,' wrote one man.
'Besides, you can buy a brand new iPhone5 for $700. So if this is a true story then I'm sorry but she deserved it!'
A woman asked: 'And she went to the police?? Seriously, I'd be too embarrassed to go to the police if I'd been that stupid.'
But 'Victa' added a touch of humour, writing: 'An apple a day keeps the scammers away?'
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