I have seen too many people, almost always older folks who believe the Internet is a kind and benevolent place, fall victim to bogus eMails. Somebody contacted me earlier today to ask me why she kept responding to the eMail asking her to update her iCloud details or risk running out of storage yet nothing seemed to change and the eMails kept coming in asking for the same thing over and over. I took one look at the eMail – supposedly from “Apple” – and the graphics even looked kind of like an official Apple eMail website but what really caught my eye was the return address: fstianheng@gmail.com. Since when has Apple been sending iCloud warnings out from some random dude with a gmail account? No, no, no, no, no!
There’s an old adage: if it looks too good to be true then it probably isn’t. Here’s another one: if the sender isn’t who they say they are then they probably aren’t. Whenever you get a message that makes you pause to wonder – check who the sender is. Click on the name and reveal the actual address. While expert spammers can forge this, most of these doof-balls are not.
NEVER let tech support people into your computer unless you specifically request it. NEVER give out your bank or credit card info to tech support. NEVER listen to tech support who tells you that you’ve been hacked and cannot tell anyone or phone anyone. NEVER buy gift cards to pay for tech support services.
And while I’m at it, if you DO request tech support (and it better NOT be as the result of a bogus eMail) be sure that you know who you’re talking to. Not the button telling you to click here. Go directly to the source you want to talk to. If your fear your Apple computer truly has been hacked (it actually hasn’t) and it is telling you to call 800-IAM-GULLIBLE, call Apple instead – directly. Look up their number, yourself.