Apple Addresses iCloud Calendar Spam With New 'Report Junk' Option

Apple has added a "Report Junk" option to iCloud.com to help combat a recent increase in calendar spam, as noticed by a Reddit user over the weekend.

Now, when an iCloud user receives an unsolicited calendar invite from a sender who is not a contact, the event can be double clicked on and reported as junk.

icloud-calendar-spam-report-junk
Clicking on "Report Junk" opens a window confirming the invitation has been reported as junk. Junk invitations are automatically deleted from the calendar, and the sender's details are presumably reported to Apple for further investigation. There is also a "Not Junk" option if users make a mistake.

The option is currently only available on iCloud.com, but a Reddit user claims an Apple Support representative informed him it will be rolling out to the Calendar app on iOS, and presumably Mac, soon—which would make sense.

iCloud calendar spam is nothing new, but there was a major uptick in spam leading up to the Black Friday shopping holiday in November. The spam invites appear to originate mainly from Chinese email addresses, advertising questionable discounts on products such as Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses.

icloud-calendar-spam-joe
Late last month, an Apple spokesperson apologized and said the company is working to block spam calendar invites.

We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.

iCloud users should not click on Accept, Decline, or Maybe if they receive a spam calendar invite, as choosing any of these options simply notifies the spammer that the account is active and ready for more unsolicited offers.

Instead, there are two workarounds. First, users can navigate to the iCloud.com settings and choose to receive all event invitations as email. Second, users can create a new calendar, name it Spam, move the spam invitation to the Spam calendar, and then delete the calendar entirely. Follow these step-by-step instructions.

Tag: iCloud

Top Rated Comments

larrytang Avatar
95 months ago
Still a work around. My poor mom in China called me many times to ask me how to block these spams popping up everyday. I don't think reporting them one by one is a good solution. Maybe add an option "Only allow invitations from contacts"?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Analog Kid Avatar
95 months ago
What's standing in the way of the obvious, simple fix: delete the event without notifying the sender?

I also need that capability for things that aren't junk...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jerry16 Avatar
95 months ago
Glad to see things are moving quickly in Cupertino on such an annoying issue!

Instead, there are two fixes ('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/28/delete-icloud-calendar-spam/').
Not fixes, work arounds.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ardchoille50 Avatar
95 months ago
Glad to see things are moving quickly in Cupertino on such an annoying issue!



Not fixes, work arounds.
And only one at that, some iOS users have only an iPhone, so going to iCloud.com isn't really an option.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C DM Avatar
95 months ago
I don't get this statement. Having only an iPhone and going to a webpage not possible?
You have a web browser on your phone...
icloud.com doesn't really work well in iPhone browsers. Go figure.
[doublepost=1481553534][/doublepost]
How did busy people manage their time 8 years ago pre iPhone ?
Is that kind of like how people watched small black and white TV sets without a remote control?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keithjfuller Avatar
95 months ago
the easiest way to address it is to not use that garbage software. use google calendars which works across every platform.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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