Don't Fall For This Fake Apple Support Scam, Like I Almost Did - See the Texts (2024)

FAQs

Will Apple ever contact you by text? ›

Apple will never contact you this way.

Check the sender's email address.

Official Apple email addresses end in “@email.apple.com.” Anything else is a scam. In this example, the email is from “@applestorepayment.com” — designed to trick you.

Apple will never send you a text message.

This is false, and designed to prevent you from hanging up. Eventually scammers will request your account information or security codes. Typically they will send you to a fake website that looks like a real Apple sign-in page and insist that you verify your identity.

It's a scam. They're trying to steal your personal information, like your account password or your credit card number,” according to Puig. The FTC and Apple Support say if you get an unexpected call or message about a problem with any of your Apple iCloud accounts, hang up.

End-to-end encryption

iMessage and FaceTime are designed so that there's no way for Apple to read your messages when they're in transit between devices. You can choose to automatically delete your messages from your device after 30 days or a year or keep them on your device indefinitely.

(800) 275–2273

Apple / Customer service

You messaged a non-iOS device.

When you message a non-iOS device, such as an Android, the blue text bubble turns green and it's sent as a regular text. It's possible the recipient switched from an iOS device to an Android (or other) device, so iMessage is no longer possible between your devices.

Go to Settings > Siri & Search > Automatically Send Messages, then turn on Automatically Send Messages. WARNING: Avoid distractions while driving. See Important safety information for iPhone.

You'll get a text message or phone call from Apple with your verification code. This text message might include an additional domain validation line. This line includes the @ symbol, the website name, and your code (for example: @icloud.com #123456 %apple.com). Enter the code on your other device to complete sign in.

Can a scammer use iMessage? ›

There are all kinds of scams out there these days. In addition to phone call scams, text messages, and group messages, the iMessage function on the iPhone has been a recent way that scammers are trying to trick us. How can you effectively filter and block these messages? Read on to find out!

That seems to be a scam/phishing email/text. Apple won't send you an email/text telling you your account is disabled/restricted or will be disabled/restricted. You will find out the next time you try to log in somewhere.

The contacts that appear are based on not only who you've contacted recently but also on your location and the time of day. For example if you always text your boss during week days when you're at work, your boss will show there on Tuesday if you're at work even if you haven't texted them recently.

Notifications help you keep track of what's new—they let you know if you missed a call, if the date of an event moved, and more. You can customize your notification settings so you see only what's important to you.

For your convenience, SMS, MMS, Apple Messages for Business, and iMessages are backed up in iCloud and encrypted if you have enabled either iCloud Backup or Messages in iCloud. You can turn off both iCloud Backup and Messages in iCloud whenever you want.

Is the Apple security alert real? No, the Apple security alert is not real. Apple doesn't really send security warnings, so every instance you see of this on your macOS or iOS device is a scam. Never click on these or call any number associated with the pop-up.