The Windows ecosystem may be rife with malware, but Apple users are particularly big targets for phishing scams due to perceptions about their higher incomes levels, according to security blogger Graham Cluley.
In a recent post, Cluley reported on a new scam in which Apple users received texts alerting them that their Apple ID accounts would soon expire and inviting them to update their account information through a fake website. The aim of the scam is, of course, to obtain sensitive user data including credit card information.
Speaking to the BBC, Cluley asserted that “Apple products cost more than some of their competitors so it’s likely that their customers have more disposable income,” and indeed, much of Apple’s success can be attributed to its specific targeting of the premium end of the smartphone market. But Apple has also shown increasing concern for user privacy and security, and as the pioneer of mobile fingerprint scanning via its Touch ID system, it has also done much to safeguard users. As this security approach continues to spread across more Apple products and services, such phishing scams could be curtailed considerably going forward.
For now, though, users need to have their wits about them; and Apple sensibly advises its customers to never enter their account information on any sites that aren’t official Apple sites.
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