Q: I received an email from appleid@id.apple.com requesting that I verify my Apple ID and password.  Is it legitmate?

The link you posted actually redirects to a completely different one.

I will not post the entire URL here but it begins with

http://www.brazilianrhythms.com/

... which is in all likelihood a totally legitimate website.

I redacted the remainder of the brazilianrhythms URL, which if present will load what appears to be a perfect duplicate of Apple's "My Apple ID" page:

Completing the Apple ID and password fields and clicking Sign In loads another page with practically all the information required to steal your identity (none of which is required by Apple when changing your Apple ID password by the way). Completing that page loads this one:

Who knows what a "3D Secure Password" is but it doesn't matter - by the time the above page loads your information has already been lifted.

No matter what is entered clicking "Verify your account" loads the following page where it mercifully abandons the hapless user:

Notice the "Welcome to Paypal" title though. Oops!!

All the pages are fairly authentic-looking. Some of the links are even legitimate. If they fool even a tiny percentage of Apple's half billion iTunes account holders, that's a lot of Apple ID and credit card information in the wind.

These phishing scams are very easy to perpetrate and are becoming more common. Be careful.

I recieved this email (below), which is bogus, since I haven't logged in to my account for months:

******************************************************************************** **********************

Hello,

The following information for your Apple ID was updated on 2/21/2014:

Shipping and/or billing address

If these changes were made in error, or if you believe an unauthorised person

accessed your account, please reset your account password immediately by going to

********

To review and update your security settings, sign in to *********

This is an automated message. Please do not reply to this email. If you need

additional help, please visit Apple Support.

Thanks,

Apple Customer Support

<Edited by Host>

Thanks Erugina. Positioning your cursor over the link in the email reveals what site will load if you were to click it:

These scams may be easy to create but their true nature is just as easily determined. Read Identifying fraudulent "phishing" email

I just received this same sort of email.

I did a quick google search to see if this was a scam and found this thread.

One thing that alerted me to the idea that this wasn't legit is the lack of Apple's usual logo, the typeset seemed different that I'm used to seeing on Apple alerts, there was no change in shading on the email (similar to what you see on this web page) and the fact that it only said Alert in the subject line.

Be aware, this is still floating out there and should not be trusted.

Tortured English is a dead giveaway. Scam.

Phishing attempts or their historical equivalents have been with us since the dawn of mankind, and will persist through its end.

YES

I recieved the email below too:

I logged into my apple account(not with the link in the email) and changed my password, then checked for any recent purchases or data changes.There was nothing suspicious.

I guess it was Phising/fake email.

It is definitely a fake. In fact you didn't need to change the password, but there is no harm in your having done so. They are trying to get you to enter your details in their fake site so that they can hack your account and make purchases in your name; as you did not do so you don't have a problem, and you were right to be cautious.

Any message supposedly from Apple which does not address you by name is a fake.

Thanks, this was so helpful. Warning bells started going off that this was a scam when I received this email because, first of all, Lili Villa Zandate is NOT my name and no where close to being my name, although I can see how it could have been randomised or derived from my email address - and now that I came across this thread, I can see the email its from is so close to the actual apple server, apart from the fact that it has an extra "id." in front of the apple.com (See below highlighted in yellow)

Got a series of these emails last night.

and some of these.

They all said I updated information like security questions, passwords, and emails. Or said that my account was being signed into devices I don't have in locations I wasn't in. But I checked my account and nothing was changed. Long story short, someone went on a shopping spree on my account while I slept, and now I have to wait for Apple to refund my money.

Beware. I'm still confused by what to believe now. Everything looks so legit at a glance.

There is no way of stopping phishing emails, they are only harmful when you react. So the best and only defense is your brain and common sense...

Ive seen this quite a few times in the last week. This is a phishing scam. DO NOT CLINK ON ANY LINKS. EVER!! I don't mean to be obnoxious, but Id hate to see more people experience this.

People I know have done this. That gives the individuals behind the scam access to your entire iTunes account. That includes your credit card info linked to iTunes. The scam artists then change the apple id and password completely locking you out.

My advice, contact apple support. There is a new service on apple.com designed to help with this issue. Search in the support window for contact apple support. But before doing this, make sure to BACK UP YOUR DEVICE.

I Need help

latoyafrompaterson wrote:

 

I Need help

Don't we all. But unless you care to explain what sort of help you require all we can do is.... nothing.

la toya is the name of an island before the Spanish coast in the atlantic. Not far from Santiago de Compostella.

Use your brain: do not react to the email or anything in it, login directly to iCloud, there see if something is required to do with your Apple ID and password. destroy the email.