The email below, which claims the recipients' Apple ID has been temporarily blocked or locked, is another attempt by cybercriminals to steal their potential victims’ Apple account credentials. The fake email has links in it that go to the phishing Apple website that steals account usernames and password. The phishing website steals account credentials by asking visitors to sign-in with their Apple account usernames and passwords. Now, any attempt to sign into the fake or phishing website will result in the visitors’ Apple account credentials being sent to the cybercriminals responsible for the scam. Once the cyber crooks have gotten possession of the stolen account credentials, they will use it to hijack their victims’ Apple accounts and use the same accounts fraudulently.
The "Your Apple ID has been Blocked" Phishing Scam
From: Apple Check <terindahUSCp1NuUGG@yahoo.goodsPltDu1xxkompastv.com>
Date: December 28, 2017 at 7:31:26 AM EST
Subject: [DETECTED] We're concerned about potentiaI unauthorized activity Ref=bLqi2BKq
Dear,
We Detected that someone logged into your AppIe lD From An Unknown Device.
That's Why as Security measure we have to block your ID to keep your safe from UnAuthorized Activities
Was That You ?
Device : Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 10_3_3 like Mac OS X) Mobile/14G60
IP : 203.178.99.27
Location: Korea
Your account will be locked if we didn't receive any response from you in more than twenty four hours.
Sincerely,
Apple Support
Apple users should never click on a link in an email message to sign into their accounts. They should instead, go directly to https://appleid.apple.com/ and sign-in from there. If there is something wrong with their accounts, they will be alerted after signing in. Users who were tricked by the phishing scam, are asked to change their Apple account passwords immediately before their accounts are hijacked and used fraudulently. For those users who are unable to change their passwords, are asked to contact Apple Technical Support for help.