New iPhone 5-Themed Phishing Email Campaign is Targeting iPhone Enthusiasts

A new phishing email moving across the world is preying on Apple enthusiasts who are keen to lay their hands on the upcoming iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C devices that were lately announced by the software giant, security experts warned, as reported by scmagazine.com on September 10, 2013.

Taking into consideration the quality of English language used in the phishing email claiming to be from the Apple Store and that was sent to 'Recipients', it is not surprising that the scam hasn't had a great impact yet.

The email containing an Apple-related signature and link informs the recipient that his email has won the latest IPHONE5s Smartphone and the IPAD Promotional Events held last week. In order to claim his items, he is instructed to click on Online Catalog trade link and fill in his accurate email and password.

For inexperienced users, it may appear the email and password is required to authenticate the reward winner but entering the details into the website will give access to scammers who then use this for many things including spamming.

According to researchers of Trend Micro, the majority of victims of the above scam are from Malaysia and Singapore.

Security experts analyzing the above campaign advise not to be lured by such emails. Some companies might run promotions in which they give away free iPhones but obviously they will not contact you out of the blue to inform you that you have won.

The security experts advise to check the company's official website and social media pages to check the legitimacy of the contest and if there is no mention of iPhone 5S giveaways then the messages you are seeing are part of scam which leverages the name of a well known brand.

Moreover, it is not the first time that the news of launch of iPhone is being exploited by cybercriminals in their phishing email campaigns. In February, 2010, a phishing campaign using a theme of "FREE 1 Year Warranty Extension Offer" with emails entitled "IMPORTANT: Your FREE iPhone Warranty Extension for 1 Year" continued to circulate for many weeks.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/18/2013