WARNING Possible Phishing Scam, Fake Apple "free giftcard 10$ for the apple ID" Promo

dgstorm · Feb 6, 2012

A couple of our astute members/moderators & admin have brought some potentially important information to our attention. Gabriel1 and mwhartman shared with the writing staff that there is what appears to be an Apple Phishing scam that is making its rounds around the web. Here in Gabriel1's post he has a link to what looks like a sign-up page for a "free giftcard 10$ for the apple ID" promotion. The clever website even went to the trouble of creating some hyperlinks to legitimate parts of Apple's websites to make it look authentic.

However, there are some clues that start to call its validity into question. First, the link to this site was spammed in the forums, which Apple would certainly not do. Second, when you look at the spam, you can see in the "offer" that the dollar sign is on the wrong side of the numbers. Third, when you visit the site, several annoying pop-ups intrude on your desktop, which, again, a legitimate Apple site would probably not have. Finally, if you look up the internet "whois" info on this site, you will find it is based in Thailand.

So, unless the Thailand division of Apple went completely crazy and decided to go rogue from the company, this is more than likely a scam to entice users into giving up personal information that will be used for identity theft of some kind, or to simply steal your Apple ID.

Here is another link to Gabriel1's post sharing the info (in his post there is also a link to the site, but do NOT go there as it is possible your computer could get infected with malware - and even on a Mac it is not worth the risk): Apple iPad Forum.

Warn all your friends.

Gregoris · Feb 7, 2012

They are cleaver because they show a site that makes you think its the apple store or the banks website and they take your details and next thing you know you get 100 emails from loads of people who have bought everything in the app store

bab2010 · Feb 7, 2012

when i think that the same Apple ID can be use to purchase apps from OS X from the app store... omg, some apps there cost even $200. If one fall in that trap and happen to have a credit card linked to his/her account then it's finish for that person.

Gregoris · Feb 7, 2012

That is true but luckily apple give you 30 days for refunds so you can explain what has happened and I am sure you will be refunded and extra steps taken to make sure that it does not happen again, but that is true if you have a credit card on file you can use it on the mac as well so you could put thousands of dollars worth of apps and games within minutes just buying anything you see so they probably sell the details on or use it for themselves.