Outline:
“Important message” purporting to be from Apple claims that the company has added security to your Apple ID and you must click a link to fill out a short questionnaire. The email warns that Apple could no longer guarantee the security of your account if you do not comply with the request.
Analysis:
The email is not from Apple. Instead, it is a typical phishing scam designed to steal your Apple ID, your credit card numbers, and other personally identifying information. If you click the link, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that has been designed to look like the real Apple website.
Once on the fake site, you will be asked to log in with your Apple ID and then fill in a form that requests your personal and financial information. A screenshot of the fake form is included below.
All of the information you supply will be collected by criminals and used to hijack your Apple account, commit fraudulent transactions using your credit card, and, possibly, steal your identity.
Apple phishing scams are very common. An article on the Apple website explains how to recognise and report phishing scam messages like this one.
Screenshot of the fake Apple web form:
Last updated: November 23, 2016
First published: November 23, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
Apple ‘Your Order Has Been Placed’ Phishing Scam
“Apple Music Membership Invoice” Phishing Scam Email
Phishing & Other Suspicious Emails
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
