How to Identify Apple ID Phishing Attempts

Here is a guide on how to identify and dismiss Apple ID Phishing emails you may receive. Apple ID’s are our gateway to all of our purchased content, password information, credit card information and more due to its growing use and necessity as part of iOS.

In the last couple years, there have been many scams going to iCloud and Apple ID users’ inboxes that are attempting to phish (spoofing, carding) your personal information and access your content. Fortunately there are a few great tells for finding if your message is indeed from Apple or if it is spam and can be discarded.

How to Identify Apple ID Phishing Attempts

Here are some of the ways to identify a phishing scam targeting your Apple ID.

Watch the above video for demonstration on how to recognize these phishing attempts when you receive an email or iMessage.

How to Identify Phishing

Phishing is a method of trying to procure log-in information from you. There are many different methods of which you can receive these messages yet usually they arrive via email or iMessage.

The number one thing to look for is anything that appears to be from Apple yet was sent to you unprompted. There are times when you will receive a very official looking email that is branded with Apple logos yet is asking you to log in from a link. This is usually a very bright red flag.

If you have not prompted to reset your password, this is usually a false flag to try to get you to log in with your iCloud account and give that information to whoever sent you that message.

Hovering over links with your cursor will reveal their true location and anything that does not include “apple.com.” There will also usually be strange wording such as “unlock your Apple ID.” You can also reveal the header of the email by opening the message, accessing the View menu in Mail, Choose Messages and then All Headers. Searching for “Received from…” will reveal the website that the email was sent from. Be way of anything not from Apple.com.

Apple does lock your account for various reasons yet usually for fraudulent behavior. These phishing emails will attempt to mimic these same behaviors and try to get you to use your credentials.

If you click any links in your email from these websites, you are safe from fraudulent activity as long as you do not input your Apple ID or credit card information.

Reporting Phishing Scams

Apple has set up an email account to be able to have these different phishing scams reported and hopefully handled. The email account is [email protected] and any and all attempts can be forwarded to this address for further action by Apple.

There are many different ways that people are receiving attacks these days due to the ever growing necessity of Apple ID’s for our iPhone usage. Be wary of where you enter your password and ensure if you are on Safari that you see a lock symbol in your URL bar when on Apple websites. This represents a secure connection to a trusted server and that you are safe to proceed with adjustments to your Apple ID.