How to Report Phishing Emails to Apple
Phishing scams are constantly on the rise, and they will remain to be a serious problem for us in the foreseeable future. The best way to protect ourselves is to stay alert so we don't fall prey to these nasty scams. And it's not just about us either, we have a responsibility to warn our friends, family, loved ones, and our community of the dangers phishing scams. One way we can protect our community and cut down the phishing attacks is by reporting fishy messages and emails to Apple when we notice them. If you want to learn more keep reading.
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How to identify phishing
The standard types of phishing attacks try to trick you in order to steal your passwords and user credentials through social engineering. Phishing scams are usually cloaked as emails from big-name companies like Apple, Google, Facebook. Sometimes they can be disguised as emails from your bank if the scammers know it. The attackers operate like this because these companies have millions of clients and it makes it easy for them to trick unsuspecting victims because most of us use at least some of their products or services. Should you open their emails you'll find that they include links to mock websites posing as the real thing. Often these fake pages will ask you to sign in in order to retrieve your password and username. I have compiled a list of the most common giveaways for phishing scams to help you identify potential attacks.
Strange email subject
The fraudulent emails will often ask you to provide your user credentials or answer a security question, however, the real companies and banks would never under any circumstances ask you to provide your credentials over a message.
Check the address bar
Phishing scams usually have an overly long email address (as well as links) that the real companies and banks wouldn't use. If the address bar and the links look suspicious don't click on them.
Spelling and grammar mistakes
A lot of time phishing emails come from third world scammers whose grasp of the English language is subpar at best. If you see a message, which claims to be from a large company like Apple with obvious spelling or grammatical errors close it and delete it.
How to report phishing scams and other fishy messages to Apple
Apple has compiled a pretty good support document on spotting phishing and other fake messages. Now, you may think you can easily spot a phishing email, but lots of people have thought that and still fallen prey to one. It's not a bad idea to look it over and share with your friends and family too. Especially the less tech-savvy ones.
If you come across any phishing or otherwise odd messages that are feigning legitimacy by coming from Apple you can always forward them to reportphishing@apple.com
On the other hand, if you get any weird messages coming from iCloud.com, me.com, or mac.com email account, then forward them to abuse@icloud.com
To report spam or other odd iMessages, tap Report Junk (located right under the message).
