Phishing and Malware Emails Posing as Apple and the iPhone 5 Launch
We've received a number of warnings from readers over the last couple of weeks about fraudulent emails that look a lot like official Apple emails. These emails are structured just like Apple's promotional emails, but are actually attempts to lure unsuspecting customers into entering their Apple IDs and other personal information. Such so called "phishing" attempts are common and readers should be wary about following links from any emails.
What caught our eye is that the latest round of these fraudulent emails are actually leveraging the hype around the next generation iPhone. The latest email (pictured above) passes itself off as an Apple launch email for the iPhone 5. (Full size). It cobbles together various photos from the internet and entices users to click on "Learn More". The learn more link, however, links to a Windows executable which we presume to be malware (virus, trojan, keylogger, etc...), so readers are warned to avoid clicking on any links from these emails.
Reports of compromised App Store and Apple ID accounts have generated a lot of press in the past due to the scale of the iTunes Stores. It was believed that account details were stolen using these sort of techniques rather than any sort of vulnerability in iTunes itself.
Another example of a fraudulent email:
Top Rated Comments
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27 months ago
people falling for these obviously fake fraudulent apps/emails is creating a bad reputation for mac users...
Whoever falls for that *OBVIOUS* fake email kinda deserves it.
They're not all obviously fake. Others look identical to Apple emails. The links just are sent to non apple domains.
arn
27 months ago
Hate to be a bit harsh, but anybody who actually thought those emails were real has GOT TO BE a friction retard!!!!
I grabbed my iPhone as soon as I read this and typed in "frickin" just to see if it autocorrected to "friction"
I feel your pain man. It gets me too.
27 months ago
How awful does that big 5 look on the back of the phone lol. I'd know it was fake just because of that.
27 months ago
Hate to be a bit harsh, but anybody who actually thought those emails were real has GOT TO BE a friction retard!!!!
27 months ago
Please tell me MacRumors is joking & that this is real. I saw the email and gave them my Apple ID/password & voluntarily sent them the last 4 digits of my soc.
...
So what you've gotta do is change your Apple ID's password. Right now.
And then, also, if you're already on the Macrumors forums, why not read the news articles? The iPhone 5 doesn't exist (yet). Would you really have heard absolutely nothing about it? When you're ON the Macrumors website?...
... think a little more next time, k? (I'm trying to be constructive)
Clearly MacRumors can't understand sarcasm today. I figured saying I voluntarily gave them my soc would have made that obvious.
...
So what you've gotta do is change your Apple ID's password. Right now.
And then, also, if you're already on the Macrumors forums, why not read the news articles? The iPhone 5 doesn't exist (yet). Would you really have heard absolutely nothing about it? When you're ON the Macrumors website?...
... think a little more next time, k? (I'm trying to be constructive)
Clearly MacRumors can't understand sarcasm today. I figured saying I voluntarily gave them my soc would have made that obvious.
27 months ago
Apple always keeps innovating!
Then, when you expect 4G networks should start to enroll soon, Apple gives you a 5G network compatible phone!
And when you think it's just the iPhone 5, think again. Apple is so much above all competition in terms of technology, they simply have to name it the iPhone 5G S!
Now with a transparent wallpaper, fully customizable in different kinds of transparency. It's just great, since when I take a picture with the camera, I always wanted to see "behind" the phone to see what I'm actually snapshotting. Now I can, so revolutionary!
Plus, if you so desire the standard water droplets background, just wait until it rains, catch a few droplets with the back of your iPhone and you have a nice and pretty wallpaper about water droplets. Now people are finally happy when it rains instead of always complaining about the rain. This simply revolutionary!
Then the QWERTY keyboard, that's just pure awesomeness! I always wanted to type 2 text messages at the same time. Now with 2 keyboards, I can! I can be gentle and use the soft screen keyboard, or I can use the hard keys if I wanted to be rude (e.g. for complaining about Android).
The technology behind this is simply outstanding! Just imagine what it takes to make those black plastic keys fully transparent for when using the phone in transparent mode!
And in the small letters at the bottom:
"MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer."
This is just priceless! This phone is the first iPhone 5G S with MMS support. If someone is able to deliver something that awesome, it just has to be Apple! Now beat that, HTC/Nokia/Samsung/etc...!
The blackness is purely amazing! Never before was another phone so black as this one. It's that black even black holes are jealous of the color of the iPhone 5G S!
But since black is just not a color, it's the absence of color and light, this is a paradoxical phone.
This is, because the iPhone IS light. It doesn't weigh much, so you can't tell it's heavy. Though it is still black. When it's not transparent. That is what makes it special.
This is the start of a new era. A phone of pure awesomeness. Black yet light, 5G capable, lightning fast (no thunderbolt because thunder is slower than lightning) and... and...
Wait whut? Is it just spam? Serious? Oh... I should have known...
Then, when you expect 4G networks should start to enroll soon, Apple gives you a 5G network compatible phone!
And when you think it's just the iPhone 5, think again. Apple is so much above all competition in terms of technology, they simply have to name it the iPhone 5G S!
Now with a transparent wallpaper, fully customizable in different kinds of transparency. It's just great, since when I take a picture with the camera, I always wanted to see "behind" the phone to see what I'm actually snapshotting. Now I can, so revolutionary!
Plus, if you so desire the standard water droplets background, just wait until it rains, catch a few droplets with the back of your iPhone and you have a nice and pretty wallpaper about water droplets. Now people are finally happy when it rains instead of always complaining about the rain. This simply revolutionary!
Then the QWERTY keyboard, that's just pure awesomeness! I always wanted to type 2 text messages at the same time. Now with 2 keyboards, I can! I can be gentle and use the soft screen keyboard, or I can use the hard keys if I wanted to be rude (e.g. for complaining about Android).
The technology behind this is simply outstanding! Just imagine what it takes to make those black plastic keys fully transparent for when using the phone in transparent mode!
And in the small letters at the bottom:
"MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer."
This is just priceless! This phone is the first iPhone 5G S with MMS support. If someone is able to deliver something that awesome, it just has to be Apple! Now beat that, HTC/Nokia/Samsung/etc...!
The blackness is purely amazing! Never before was another phone so black as this one. It's that black even black holes are jealous of the color of the iPhone 5G S!
But since black is just not a color, it's the absence of color and light, this is a paradoxical phone.
This is, because the iPhone IS light. It doesn't weigh much, so you can't tell it's heavy. Though it is still black. When it's not transparent. That is what makes it special.
This is the start of a new era. A phone of pure awesomeness. Black yet light, 5G capable, lightning fast (no thunderbolt because thunder is slower than lightning) and... and...
Wait whut? Is it just spam? Serious? Oh... I should have known...
27 months ago
An important thing to remember is that these emails are targeted at less informed consumers...not the type that grace MR.
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