Yet another phishing scam is targeting Apple users. At first glance, the email appears to be an official Apple receipt for a recent purchase. But, in fact, the email is a criminal ruse designed to steal your personal and financial information and Apple did not send it.
The email claims that your Apple ID was used to sign in on an iPhone 7 Plus belonging to a person in Jakarta, Indonesia. It includes an attached PDF receipt claiming that the person bought $99 worth of credits for an online game using your Apple ID.
The email urges you to click a “Cancel Now” button if you did not authorize the purchase listed in the attached receipt.
If you do click to cancel, you will be taken to a fraudulent website designed to emulate a genuine Apple login page. After you enter your Apple ID credentials on the fake page, you will then be taken to a “cancel order” form that asks for your name and address, your credit card numbers, and other identifying information.
Criminals can then use the information you supplied to hijack your Apple account, conduct fraudulent Apple store and credit card transactions in your name, and attempt to steal your identity.
Note that details such as the name of the supposed purchaser, the location, and the device used may vary in different incarnations of these scam emails.
If you receive an email like this one, do not click any links or open any attachments that it contains. It is always safest to login to your online accounts by entering the address into your browser’s address bar or via an official app.
An example of the scam email:
Subject: Your Apple ID was just used to sign in to iCloud
Your Apple ID was just used to sign in to iCloud on an iPhone 7 Plus named [removed] and make a Purchases via iTunes Store,
Order ID : MQXWH9B2BT
Date and Time: September 08, 2017, 07:09 PM PDT ( Indonesia Time )
OS: (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 10_3_2 like Mac OS X)
Location： Jakarta, IndonesiaIf you did not authorize this transaction please Cancel Now by clicking link in the below, You’re getting this email to make sure it was you.
CANCEL NOW
Apple needs to do this to comply with regulatory requirements, We have sent the attachment AppIe_Receipt_MQXWH9B2BT (PDF) For detail your activity,
Apple Support
You received this email to let you know about important changes to your AppIe Account and services.
© 2017 AppIe Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
