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
11 comments
I got similar email like this, it said a purchase confirmation, but I’m not using apple product anymore for 10 years.
The email from enchGnoreply035@035.apple.com :
[Billing Fraud] Apple Store Recently Purchase Confirmation – review accounts? [CASE-0694]
I believe he’s using fake anonymous email, can’t receive a reply, so maybe he will change it after a hundred emails.
To all visitor, please be careful to click any link inside an email like this, because usually they’re using shortlink from third party, which is usually legit email from real company not using any shortlink.
I want to forward a phishing email to Apple – but just finding the correct Support email is like entering a crazy Apple maze. It’s as if there’s a lot of written “customer support” full of what to do if – and if – and if – but when it comes down to it, I can’t find a way to actually contact Apple. Any suggestions?
Jennifer, you can use the reporting email address listed in this Apple help article:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204759
Just forward the suspicious email to apple using this email address: reportphishing@apple.com
Just got this phishing email myself that we are discussing and I just forwarded it to apple using the above email address and deleted it. Rather amusing since I don’t even have an apple account and my phone is powered by Android.
I got this as well. Saying it was $150 AUD and that if I do not click cancel or reply, it will automatically process. I’m not that stupid so thankfully I googled Hoax Slayer and knew I’d find the answer here. They try to scare you into providing information. I didn’t even bother to click on the attachment and emailed the apple phishing email address that is linked here right away.
A family member received a similar email this morning. It said they had purchased a 1 year, family iTunes account.
just got a email told me that i was charged for a NOAA weather app $200.00. and also sent me a link to login to cancel. becareful.
i got an email similar to the above. I opened one of the attachment to cancel the purchase (which I I didn’t make). I was saved by my installed Kaspersky on my computer coz when I tried to click cancel now, Kaspersky blocked it, says access denied. If not for that these people might have stolen a lot from me…
i clicked on the pdf file, and I think I downloaded the file. Although, I did delete it before I opened it. Now I can’t open my downloads folder. It just stays stuck. I ran Norton but it didn’t find anything.
@raleigh t: is everything okay now? I’m traveling and just got same email….I opened pdf and it downloaded. Not sure what will happen. At home I usually don’t fall victim to these things. What did you do?
The scam is back. I just got the same email today. I did not click on the attached pdf file. I google “apple id claims of purchase….” and found this website, thank you! I hit delete the email. This is the second email scam i got this week purportedly from Apple. The first was about my Apple ID account will be locked for security reason unless I click on the link to confirm my acct.