Hello Everyone,

Just a heads-up that there is a phishing expedition to get into your iTunes account.

Today, I received an email from what appeared to be Apple, sent directly to one of my valid Apple iTunes email addresses, informing me that I needed to update my iTunes password.  The email went on to suggest that if I did not update my password within 24 hours, my iTunes account would be suspended due to suspicious activity.  

As a matter of policy, I immediately determined that the email was fraudulent but decided to scrutinize it thoroughly to determine just how sophisticated these phishing expeditions have become. 

Take it from me, this email looked almost completely legitimate right down to the Apple logo and copyright notices.  I was very impressed. 

The only sure-fire way of proving that the email was a fake was to carefully copy the target URL into a text editor and review it.  I was extremely careful not to accidentally click the imbedded re-direction link as I viewed the email on one of my Windows 7 computers. 

Even the bogus phishing link, imbedded in the email had both the words Apple and iTunes as part of its URL; very, very clever, to say the least.

Just so you know, even if I had not been able to determine that the email was a fake, I would never have clicked any link imbedded within it. 

Instead, especially on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC, I would have first closed any email clients and/or browsers and rebooted the computer.   On a Mac, I would probably not perform this step, but then again, maybe I would. 

Then, making sure to use an apple supported browser such as the latest version of Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari, I would have gone to:
http://appleid.apple.com
and checked the status of my account.

As Always, Sip Your Apple Cider Slowly,

Mark