A new phishing scam targeting Apple users is on the loose. In the email—that claims to be from Apple Support—it states that “your Apple ID has been locked for security reasons.” It urges you to “verify your identity” and has a prominent “login to your account” button.
This link leads to a scam website that will attempt to collect your Apple login credentials to gain access to your account. Like the email design, the website is set up to mirror Apple’s branding to further entice you to take the bait.
Warning Signs and How to Spot a Phishing Scam
- Take a look at the sender’s information. For example, support-notification@emailapple.com. On closer inspection, the domain is ‘emailapple.com‘, rather than ‘apple.com‘. This is a red flag.
- Language & grammar are common giveaways. In this example, the email reads “We detect your account sign-in from unknown device and for your safety your account automatically locked.” Not quite right.
- If you’re on your desktop, hover over the link. In one reported case, the link was ‘http://tiny.cc/z11a3y‘. Clearly not an official Apple URL. From your Apple touch device, long hold the link to preview the URL destination.
Companies like Apple will never ask you for this type of personal information. If you get an email like this, simply ignore it. If you’d like to report it, forward it to reportphishing@apple.com.
Protect Your Apple ID
You can add additional security measures like two-factor authentication to help protect your Apple ID. Learn more about securing your Apple ID on their support website.
You’ll notice the url starts with ‘support.apple.com‘. This is a legitimate Apple url. In this case the ‘support.’ portion of the url is referred to as the subdomain. In order to use this url, the creator must own ‘apple.com’.
If the URL was ‘supportapple.com’, this would be an example of a potential scam website. The ‘.’ (dot) matters!
Don’t fall for this Apple phishing scam or any other email scams, for that matter. Be especially wary of any email asking for your login credentials, your financial details, or any other personal information.
