Beware of Legitimate-looking Phishing Scams

From a recent personal experience, our listeners need to be very suspicious of any strange messages saying they are being billed for a purchase unless you contact them to let them know this is not a correct charge.

These messages are becoming more and more frequent and might be delivered to you by text, email, or phone call.

My personal experience occurred today when I received the below text message on my phone:

“Did You Approve This Charge?
Your Apple ID has been flagged for unusual payment activity (Case ID: 74829105673). A recent charge attempt of $659.38 through Apple Pay — originating from Orlando, FL — could not be verified against your known devices or previous transactions. To protect you from potential fraud, the charge has been paused, and your Apple Pay access has been temporarily disabled while our team conducts a verification.
If this purchase was authorized, no action is necessary and the transaction will process as scheduled. If not, please contact Apple Support immediately to review and secure your account.
Apple Support: 1-805-362-7442
Billing Assistance: getsupport.apple.com/
We appreciate your attention to this matter. Your trust and account safety remain our top priorities.
Stay safe,
Apple Risk Management Team”

I was very suspicious of this since I had made no such purchase, but the urge was great to just call that number or visit that website to head off a large fraudulent charge. However, my law enforcement background overpowered that urge, and I made an internet search for Apple Support and found a totally different phone number.

The person I called at the legitimate Apple Support told me that neither the phone number nor the email address contained in that text are legitimate Apple contacts. They also advised that it was a good thing that I did not try and contact them using either the phone number, email address in the message or tried to respond to the message since this is an attempt to obtain my personal information or credit card number by a scammer.

They provided me with an email address -reportphishing@apple.com – for me to send a copy of that message to for their information and possible action.

So, the lesson here is that when (not if, but when) you get a message in your texts or emails, or receive a phone call about a debt owed or about a purchase that you didn’t make, do not discuss this with the contacting people and especially do not open any attachments to these suspicious messages. Just opening such an attachment will often compromise your information. If you call them, they will try to convince you to give them a credit card number or disclose your social security number or other personal information by telling you they need that information to cancel your debt. In actuality they want this information for them to charge your account with other fraudulent purchases, or to sell your information on the dark web to other scammers.

Instead, search the internet for a legitimate phone number or email address for the company and contact them directly.

These same types of scams including messages about an unpaid highway toll charge saying that unless it is paid, they will suspend your driver’s license, are becoming more and more common. Again, these are an attempt to get your credit card number. The West Virginia Department of Transportation has said that they do not send out messages like that, and neither do other states.

Again, always be suspicious of any messages like these. It is a lot easier to avoid these than to try and get back illegal charges to your accounts and having to change your credit card numbers.