Activate Apple Account says phishing email

Activate Apple Account says phishing email

“We need your action to activate your account.” This is the subject line of the latest phishing email to hit our email filters. Once again, Apple users are targeted. In this campaign Apple users are advised that several downloads have been detected. Consequently the recipient needs to update their account information. Or “activate” their “Apple” account, as the subject line implores. Just click on the link provided and all will be OK. Except that it won’t, because the link is to a phishing site. This email is a scam. Delete it.

Figure A shows the email. It’s a simple phishing email. One apple logo is used. No greeting. The sender of the email is “Apple nl”. The email domain is not an Apple domain. As mentioned above, the subject line “We need your action to activate your account” is a call for action. The email body consists of three sentences and one link. The link uses the anchor text “Verify Now”. There is a standard footer on the email.

MailShark Activate Apple Account says phishing email
Figure A – Click to Enlarge

It’s possible that people will see through this email quickly. In any case, we will run through the reason why it is a fake. One reason is the lack of a greeting. Apple will use a personalised greeting. Some phishing emails will use a generic greeting (such as “Dear customer” or “Dear member”). The lack of any type of greeting is a sign that this is not a legitimate email.

The second sign is the grammar. It is not what would be expected from an official email. The third sign is the link. Checking the link by mousing over it shows that it leads to a malicious site. It does not lead to an Apple site. This email is a fake and can be deleted.

Scott Reeves
MailShark
Free anti-spam service
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