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Be Careful; Online Phishers target Apple users with Credit Card Scam.

This morning we received an email from one of our readers that stated the following, “I just received an “official looking” E-Mail supposedly from Apple informing me to update my credit card information for my .Mac account. It has a noreply@apple.com as the address and when I clicked on the link for the information I noticed that it took me to a third party site. WARNING: This is a scam to get your credit card information. Please spread the word.”

The email takes the user to an Apple look alike site that asks for the “user’s credit card type, credit card number, expiration date, security code, billing address and social security number.” In addition to the grief that comes with having your identity stolen, this info could give the phishers full access to all purchases that can be made from Apple: hardware, software, iTunes account, and iPhoto products, The Apple Blog reports.

This attack comes well after Apple introduced the 3G iPhone to the consumer market early last month—and conveniently nestled the week before it actually becomes available in stores (in most countries) next week.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN BROWSING THE WEB. Always be sure to double check before blindly typing your personal credit card information into any website.

Figure 1. Hovering your mouse above the link shows its real destination.

The URL loads the following phishing page which asks the user for personal information such as the user’s credit card type, credit card number, expiration date, security code, billing address and social security number:

Figure 2.The phishing page features the same sleek Apple Store interface, but don’t be fooled.

“This phishing page, like most other phishing attacks we’ve detected and filtered out, use an insecure protocol (exhibited also by the lack of the lock icon). Knowing this useful tidbit can save target victims from losing their online identities to cybercriminals. Phished Apple credentials give fraudsters access to the Apple store, iTunes store, iPhoto, Apple product registration, and AppleCare services, and most important, the account holder’s credit card information,” Trend Micro reports.

Once again, PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN BROWSING THE WEB and always be sure to double check before blindly typing your personal credit card information into any website.

Thanks to reader Rich M. for the heads up.