Since the beginning of 2019, a new type of phishing scam has emerged. The infamous “Apple ID Locked email”.
More and more UltraSnow visitors are complaining that they have received an email supposedly coming from Apple asking them to click on a link to verify their email address.
“Your Apple ID has been locked for security reasons” email
Although there are many forms of this Apple ID Locked email scam, the text and the feel remain th same. Let’s take this example to see what happens.
This email therefore claims that your account is out of date, so you must provide up-to-date information otherwise your Apple account will be locked within 24 hours.
For this reason you need to click on “Verify Account Now” to continue using your Apple ID.
If you click, you will be redirected to a site with the Apple logo. Of course all the graphics and page layout are designed to look like the real Apple website.
At this point, you will be prompted to sign in using your Apple ID email and password, as you would on the real site.
You will then fill out an “Account Verification” form with all your personal information.
Name, birth date, home address and credit card details is all the need.
Finally, after submitting this fake verification form, you will be notified that you have successfully updated your Apple ID account and will be automatically redirected to the original Apple website.
Unfortunately, the scammers have just collected all the information you provided. Your Apple ID, everything you have stored in iCloud and your bank account is in their hands.
When an Apple ID really becomes locked or disabled
As you understand Apple will never send you an email threatening to lock your Apple ID account.
First of all, your Apple ID will get automatically locked as soon as you or someone else enters the wrong
- Password
- Security questions
- Or other account information
too many times. In fact, your Apple ID will get disabled after ten unsuccessful tries. In any case, you will get one of these messages on your iDevice screen and not an Apple ID Locked email.
- This Apple ID has been locked for security reasons
- This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons
- You can’t sign in because your account was disabled for security reasons
You can learn how to deal with these issues on Apple Support Page.
Of course, if you bought a used iPhone and turned out to be iCloud Locked the Apple won’t be able to help you.
Anyway, neither Apple nor any legit company will ask you to update your personal information by providing a link that leads to anything other than the official Apple ID page.
Emails about your App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, or Apple Music purchases will never ask you to provide this information over email:
- Social Security Number
- Mother’s maiden name
- Full credit card number
- Credit card CCV code
What to do if you already clicked or your private info has been compromised
If you filled out the form, change your iCloud password immediately.
Get in contact with your bank in order to protect your savings
Finally, clear your web browser history and remove all cookies.
If you have already clicked on one of the links, you will continue to receive these Apple ID Locked emails. Since fraudsters are constantly using different email accounts, it is advisable to report all of them to Apple.
You can also report similar spams you receive in your iCloud.com, me.com, or mac.com Inbox to abuse@icloud.com.