Fake Apple Billing Update

The following email is not from Apple. It’s part of a scam. If you get this, delete it. Do not click on the links.

Subject: Warning !-Apple-Update-Billing-Account

Dear Apple Customer (),

This is an automatic message sent by our security system to inform you know that you have to confirm your account information in 48 hours.
Your iTunes – Account & Billing is prone to be frozen because we are unable to validate your account information. If you do not confirm your account your applications will be deleted from your App Store.
This process does not take more than 3 minutes. To proceed to confirm your account details please click on the link below and follow the instructions.

Verify Now >

Wondering why you got this email?
It’s sent when someone adds or changes a contact email address for an Apple ID account. If you didn’t do this, don’t worry. Your email address cannot be used as a contact address for an Apple ID without your verification.

For more information, see our frequently asked questions.

Thanks,
Apple Customer Support

How can you tell if it’s real or not? Easy. In your email program (e.g. Gmail), place the mouse over the “Verify Now” link. Don’t click, just hover the mouse over it. Somewhere on your screen, usually at the bottom, you’ll see a link. In this email, the link in this fake email starts with tilassa. This is not Apple. If were genuine, Apple’s domain is apple.com, not tilassa. So it’s fake.

Other clues that it’s fake:

• The email sounds urgent. Most scams use this tactic, it’s a psychological trait we have that we don’t scrutinize urgent matters well.
• There are mistakes. This one’s pretty good compared to the usual scam, but it says to confirm your account in 48 hours. It should say within 48 hours (there’s a small technical difference).