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Phishing Scam Fools Some MobileMe Customers

by , 4:55 PM EDT, August 14th, 2008

A Phishing scam timed to coincide with the launch of MobileMe has tricked hundreds of Apple customers into divulging their credit card numbers, according to Computerworld on Thursday.

An Internet security company, CardCops, said the phishing scam worked on over 100 people in just one day. The company successfully identified the server where the scammers had stored the data.

CardCops pieced together the scam and found it to be particularly sophisticated. Customers were asked to re-enter their credit card information, likely as they transitioned from .Mac to MobileMe, due to a billing problem.

Other researchers noted that the e-mail text was clean and sleek, and it lacked the typical telltale signs of a scam. The e-mail even linked to some Apple pages.

TMO notes that if a user suspects that their credit card number with Apple is expired or somehow dropped, one test is to simply buy a song from iTunes for $0.99. If the transaction works, all's well. Or just call Apple at 800-MY-APPLE (692-7753).

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:20 pm Subject:

I posted a note in Discussions after some were asking about this - to get to the page that the email links to in real life you have to re-enter your password. The scam takes you directly to a very credible looking page but needs no reconfirmation of password.

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Close Name:rspress Posts: 29 Joined: 12 Nov 2002
Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:43 pm Subject: Hope they catch these people!

I got the email this morning and the email does look like it came from Apple. However once you go to the web page the URL is a dead giveaway. I told all my friends about it and reported it to macfixit.com.

If they find out who did it Apple needs to squash them like the bugs they are.

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