Oliver Haslam·

Beware: New iMessage Scam Attempts To Steal Your Apple ID Password

Another day and, unfortunately, another iMessage scam that attempts to gain access to your Apple ID and thus, your personal information. These scams are becoming more and more prevalent and while they are normally quite obviously scams for those of us in the know, it is all too easy for the less suspicious and less tech savvy amongst us to fall foul of them.

That’s why it is important to share scams like this and even more important that the word is spread far and wide, particularly to those most at risk – your technophobe grandparents, for example.

That said, the scam itself is one of which there have been variations for years. It ostensibly boils down to a user receiving an iMessage that the sender claims is from Apple. The message itself reads “Your AppleID is due to expire today. Tap [URL] to update and prevent loss of services and Apps.” The scam is a simple one – you tap the link and give the bogus site your details. It’s phishing 101, and it unfortunately works on lots and lots of people.

Of course, if you know what you are looking for, then this is clearly dodgy. For starters, Apple IDs don’t expire, so there’s that. Also, fairly obvious to the trained eye is the fact the URL does not point to one of Apple’s domains and the wording and capitalization of the message itself is just plain wrong. All in all, it’s obviously a fake message hoping to steal your life, but like everything, it’s only obvious to those in the know.

So with that, please, please make sure you tell people the dangers of following the instructions outlined by messages like this. Think of it as your duty as the family tech nerd, or something!

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