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‘Account Accessed in Another Location’ Apple Phishing Scam

According to this email, which purports to be from Apple, your account was accessed in another location and the company considers this suspicious.   The email urges you to open an attached file for details.  




However, the email is not from Apple.   Instead, it is an attempt to trick you into divulging your personal and financial information to online criminals.

Clicking the PDF file attached to the initial email opens a seemingly official  Apple security notification that supposedly provides information about the suspicious login attempt. The message claims that you should click a link and change your password as soon as possible.

If you do follow the link in the PDF, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that has been built to emulate a genuine Apple sign in page.

Once on the fake site, you will be asked to sign in with your Apple ID.   Next, you will be asked to provide your credit card details and other personal information, ostensibly as a means of verifying  your identity and securing your account.

You will then be redirected to the real Apple website. But, now, criminals can collect the information you provided and use it to hijack your Apple account, conduct fraudulent  transactions with your credit card, and attempt to steal your identity.

Service providers may sometimes send out alert emails if your account has been accessed from a new browser or device.   However, these genuine alert emails will not ask you to open attached files or demand that you click a link to log in and verify your account.

Apple customers are almost continually targeted via such phishing scams. Some versions, like the one discussed here, are crudely  rendered and can be easily  recognized as  suspect by poor or unusual spelling and grammar and an unprofessional appearance. Others may be considerably more sophisticated.

The Apple support website  includes information about identifying and reporting scam emails.  



An example of the scam message:

Apple Phishing Scam Email

Initial scam email

 

Apple Phishing Scam Attachment

Attached PDF

 







 



Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/account-accessed-in-another-location-apple-phishing-scam/