Apple iCloud users beware: scammers have come up with another way to target you.
Scammers are calling unsuspecting victims and saying that the call recipient’s iCloud account has been hacked, according to Daily Beast senior editor Michael Weiss. The caller says he or she is from Apple’s Support team. But in reality, the culprit is trying to hack call recipients, according to Weiss, who received one of the calls himself.
In a tweet about the incident, Weiss said that he refused the caller’s request to connect his computer to a server and said said he’d contact the FBI about the call.
Coins2Day has reached out to Apple for further comment.
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It’s unclear how widespread the apparent scam is and how the fake Apple (AAPL) Support callers choose their targets. It’s also unknown exactly what kind of information or financial reward the scammers are after.
However, it’s the latest in a long line of phishing scams aimed at duping unsuspecting victims into believing that they’ve been hacked, information has been stolen, or personal data is at risk. Phishing scams try to fool users into believing what the scammer is saying is true. In turn, victims are asked to share personal information—like a password or worse, Social Security numbers—and in other cases, connect to malicious sites or servers so they can be hacked. Such scams are becoming more commonplace due in no small part to their effectiveness, according to security experts.
Last year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that phishing scams related only to tax season were up 400% year over year. The agency added that tax preparation companies were also targeted in the hack. Earlier this month, the IRS issued a list of “dirty dozen” tax scams. Chief among them: phishing scams.
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Apple’s iCloud users have also been subject to phishing scams over the years. Last month, some users reported that they received fake text messages aimed at getting them to hand over their iCloud credentials.
Ultimately, knowledge is critical to sidestepping phishing scams. If a person is aware of the possible threat, he or she will be less likely to fall victim. So, in the event someone from Apple Support calls and asks you to do something, don’t do it. Apple Support wouldn’t call to say your account has been hacked.
