Is iPad resistant to 'please review and sign the attached document' scam?

Miloinbrooklyn wrote:

I received the prompt as an attachment to an email in gmail. I mistakenly opened the pdf, but I didn’t enter any personal information. I have since deleted the email and closed any safari windows that had been opened by the pdf. Anything more I should do?

In this instance, deleting the email is generally sufficient. However, as suggested Smilin-Brian, selectively clearing your Safari cache will do no harm - removing any residual cookies.

Removing the associated history ensures that you won't accidentally access the associated URL. However, in already accessing the potentially malicious resource, you will have already confirmed to the Bad Actor that your email address is "live" and monitored by a potential victim.

As such, having inadvertently confirmed that your email address exists and is monitored, you may receive more targeted attempts. Be very careful to manually screen future email before downloading attachments or clicking any embedded links.

You would be wise to verify the following email setting:

Settings > Apps > Mail > [Composing] Load Remote Images - set to OFF

Embedding images - even an "invisible" single pixel image - is a technique used by both legitimate senders and Bad Actors to track that an email has been received and accessed by the addressee. With this setting set to OFF, you have opportunity to screen the email message without any embedded images being automatically downloaded and displayed - avoiding potentially attracting further unwanted email.

Miloinbrooklyn wrote:

It’s my iPad, not my iPhone, and it is indeed very old. It’s running version 17.7.10.

Thank you for clarification.

My error. For iOS/iPadOS 17 and earlier, the path to the correct setting that you need is:

Settings > Mail > Messages > [Privacy Protection] Privacy Protection > Block Remote Images - set to ON

For iPadOS 18 and later:

Settings > Apps > Mail > Messages > [Privacy Protection] Privacy Protection > Block Remote Content - set to ON

Yes. Simply close the window or App within which you see the prompt.

Thank you for responding with your concerns, Miloinbrooklyn.

Open Settings ➢ Apps ➢ Safari, scroll down and tap "Clear History and Website Data".

Smiliñ 😎 Brian

Miloinbrooklyn wrote:

My mail settings don’t include a setting for load remote images. My iOS might be too old a version to include that setting.

Curious. Your iPhone would need to have a very, very old version of iOS for this setting not to appear.

Perhaps you would like to share the version of iOS installed of your iPhone. The tags appended to your initial post suggest that your iPad has iPadOS 17 installed.

I clear the history and website data after ending every session for privacy reasons.

The choice is yours, Miloinbrooklyn. 😉

Smiliñ 😎 Brian

You're very welcome. Forewarned is forearmed. 🙂