How to protect your Apple accounts from frauds

Your personal information could be at risk from a scammer or an email.
Scams are becoming more sophisticated, making it difficult to stay safe online. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself and your Apple account. Cybercrime has become a major problem. Online users are at risk for account hacks, data breaches and scams. Data breaches are on the rise, making it easier for scammers to obtain information they can use against their victims. Criminals will only increase their efforts, so users must learn to protect themselves. The users are still the weakest link, even with the best password management applications and the highest encryption levels available to consumers. Criminals do not need to compromise an account’s security. They only need to convince you to assist them. Apple, a company that is focused on privacy and security, has released more resources to help its users stay safe online. These documents, found in the support pages of Apple, detail many ways users can prevent bad things happening to their accounts. The following is a list of the most important things to remember when dealing with online scams. Social engineering is a common attack method. It’s a high-class way to say “Telling lies to get something valuable.” An attack that relies on the attacker impersonating someone else, such as Apple Support staff or those annoying calls from “Microsoft Support”. The attacker will often pretend to be an official representative of a business that you have dealt with, like Apple. They will try to trick you into giving up information that can be used to access accounts, like sign-in credentials and security codes. Hackers will sometimes use data from major data breaches to start their attacks. In January, for example, a Trello breach exposed 15 million accounts including names, email addresses, and user names. If a caller can tell you their name, address, birth date, or any other credentials, the victim may believe that they are legitimate. The fraudster may then ask for more information from the caller, as they have now “proven” that they are “legitimate.” Phishing is another type of attack that uses email or messaging services to perform the same thing. Phishing attacks can appear as legitimate emails from companies, or even look like emails from Nigerian royalty. These messages may claim that the user can benefit from something or that something has gone awry, or they could be as trivial a fake warning stating that someone has requested that their password be reset. If you receive a call or message from an apparently legitimate company, but you are not sure if the scam is to steal your credentials, contact the company directly via official channels. You don’t need to go that far. Messages and emails often contain clues that they are not genuine. How to identify fake emails and messages. The email address or phone number does not match the company that it is supposed to be from.
The email address or phone number that they used to contact you is not one you provided the company with in the beginning.
Links in messages have URLs that don’t match the official website of a company.
Formatting or language differences from the normal emails sent by the company. Spelling errors are a major clue.
The email asks for personal information. Never send your credentials via email, as they are sent in plaintext.
You didn’t expect to receive the contact and that it contained an attachment. Leave it alone if the attachment is malware. Apple has a number of protection measures for accounts, but it can’t protect against every threat. This is especially true if Apple users have been convinced to give their information. Apple has a list of things you can do to protect yourself and your Apple devices. How to protect Apple accounts from scammers: Do not share any personal data or security details, such as passwords or temp security codes. Do not enter your passwords on a website if someone directs you there.
Secure your account by using features such as two-factor authentication. Update your security information. Apple will never ask you for this information, even for support purposes.
Apple Gift Cards should not be used to pay for other people unless requested. Gift cards are often used to pay for scams.
Learn how to recognize legitimate Apple emails related to App Store or iTunes Purchases.
Apple’s guides on how to keep your Apple devices and data safe
Download software only from trusted sources.
Do not click on links or open attachments sent in unsolicited emails.
Avoid giving out personal information to anyone who calls or texts you pretending to represent Apple. Contact Apple via official channels. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be Apple, but it’s not, you can help the company stop them. Apple suggests that users forward suspicious emails to the email address [email protected].
Mark spam as Junk, or move it to your iCloud Junk folder if you receive spam via iCloud.com or me.com. This will help Apple’s iCloud Mail system to filter out spam.
Tap Report Junk to report spam messages. You can also block calls and messages from contacts. Apple also has a list with other resources that can help you keep your data and accounts secure.