14 DAY TRIAL // Apple users have reported receiving phishing emails entitled “Your Apple ID has been frozen temporarily,” which attempt to trick recipients into handing over their personal details.
TechHive’s Evan Dashevsky has received one of the fake Apple emails. The bogus message reads something like this:
“Dear Customer,
We have updated the section 7 of the security policy and our privacy to make our website more safer, simpler and more convenient for our customers, you have tried to access your account more than once from several places and have exceeded the allowable limit for access times for this reason that your account has been frozen.”
Dashevsky noted that the email landed in his inbox while in the process of installing Mavericks, the latest major release of Apple’s OS X. However, considering that variants of these scam notifications have been making the rounds since at least August, it’s probably a coincidence.
Although, at first glance, the email might appear to be legitimate, there are several clues that reveal its true nature. For instance, unlike genuine Apple notifications, it doesn’t address the recipients by their name.
Furthermore, it’s poorly written. The cybercrooks appear to have spellchecked the text, but the fact that they don’t use any punctuation to separate sentences clearly shows that the email is not legitimate.
Also, the links from the message don’t point to an Apple domain, but to a Thai website.
If you come across such emails, you can report them to Apple by forwarding them to [email protected]. If you’re already a victim of this scheme, take the appropriate measures depending on what information you’ve handed over to the scammers.
Steps may include changing passwords, and keeping a close eye on your bank account in case you’ve provided financial details.