The fake Apple email message below which claims that the recipients' Apple IDs have been disabled because an unusual activity has been detected on their accounts is a phishing scam. The fake email has a link that appears to go to appleid.apple.com, but actually goes to a phishing Apple website when clicked. The fake and phishing website steals account usernames and passwords 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 cybercrooks 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 appleid.apple.com Scam Email
Subject: Re: Your AppleID has Been Disabled
Dear Customer,
We've detected unusual activity in your account, Therefore, your account has been temporarily disabled. This may occur when you sign in from new device or when our system detect some missing/incorrect information in your account. Please take a moment of your time to verify your account and enable your access immediately.
https://appleid.apple.com/verify-account-information/ v?=3478963478965983689546783658436
Wondering why you got this email?
* When you sign in from new device or location.
* When your account billing information are missing or incorrect.
* Sometimes your account maybe gets disabled when you chargeback a purchase in your iTunes account.
Best Regards
Customer 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.