Beware of the deceptive iCloud storage alert in your inbox

FOX NEWS 

iCloud scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, targeting unsuspecting users with urgent messages about their accounts. Our team recently received two suspicious iCloud emails. We want to share our experience and provide comprehensive steps on how to identify and protect yourself from these scams.

The anatomy of iCloud scams

iCloud scams typically follow a pattern designed to create a sense of urgency and fear. Let’s break down the two emails our team received below. Here is the urgent wording that the scammers used, “Payment Failure for iCloud Storage Renewal” and “iCloud Suspended. Fix it before Mon, 13 January 2025.” Both emails share common characteristics of phishing attempts, including urgent language, threats of account suspension or data loss, requests to update payment information, links to external websites and vague or incorrect account details. These emails are crafted to look legitimate, often mimicking Apple’s branding and tone. However, they contain several red flags that indicate they are scams.

iCloud email scam (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

How to identify iCloud scams

To protect yourself from falling victim to these scams, look out for these telltale signs:

• Check the sender’s email address: Legitimate Apple emails will always come from “@apple.com” or “@icloud.com” domains. The scam email address is not even close to that.

iCloud email scam showing the sender’s bogus email address (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

• Look for spelling and grammatical errors: Scam emails often contain mistakes that official communications wouldn’t have.
• Be wary of urgent deadlines: Scammers create arbitrary deadlines to pressure you into acting quickly without thinking.
• Verify account details: If the email mentions account information, check if it matches your actual iCloud details.
• Hover over links without clicking: This allows you to preview the URL and check if it’s legitimate, as in the example below, which, as you can see, is not from Apple.

iCloud email scam showing the URL preview being bogus (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Steps to protect yourself

If you receive a suspicious email claiming to be from Apple or iCloud, follow these steps:

• Don’t click any links or download attachments: These could lead to phishing sites or install malware on your device.