I stupidly opened a mail from Costco shipping agent which having now googled, I realise its a malware scam.

It is not a threat to iOS with a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iPhone. Nothing can be installed on a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iOS device without your knowledge and opening an email alone on an iOS device can't install anything.

Nothing can prevent someone from visiting a fake website included with a link in an email and manually entering information there, but that is a far cry from malware being installed on a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iOS device automatically by simply opening an email.

Did you read the link I provided?

You have nothing to worry about with your iOS devices unless they have been hacked/jailbroken, but you do need to be concerned if the email was opened on a swiss cheese for security Windows computer or on an android device.

Leighiphone this was a "phishing" attempt and is a very common attempt to defraud you. The scam is intended for you to go to some website using the link in the email fraudulently representing itself as Costco or FedEx or DHL or Apple or any number of other popular companies. The scammer's goal is to convince you to provide personal information. If you did not provide that information don't worry about it.

Nothing in the world can prevent you from divulging personal information to strangers; you must recognize the attempt as fraudulent and disregard it.

These scams are not dependent on the device you are using and your iOS version is of no consequence.

Nothing can be automatically installed on a non-hacked (non-jailbroken) iPhone from an email or from a website. You can manually save a photo from an email or website and I haven't heard of any malware being included with a JPEG file.

You would definitely have a potential problem opening this email on a Windows PC or on an Android device, but not with an iOS device.

You're welcome.

Are you sure that this is still the case for my 3GS as its still on 4.3.3?

Yes, and the same with every iOS version beginning with the first - iOS 1.0.

Is there any advce you can give me regarding updating from 4.3.3, is it possible and would it benefit me to do so?

The highest supporting iOS version for a 3GS is iOS 6.1.3. If you want to install the update, you should have been prompted about an update being available when connecting the iPhone to iTunes on your computer over the last 2-3 years.

Am I ok to use my iPad, you're seem confident that email scams target PC's, but there is a lot of data online to suggest IOS are being targeted too.

Yes. iOS is the most secure mobile operating system by far and the same applies with iOS on any iOS device - iPhones, iPads, and an iPod Touch. There are no viruses or malware that infect or affect iOS with a non-hacked (non-jailbroken) device. Nothing can be installed on a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iOS device without your knowledge.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/14/mobile-malware-exploding-but-only-for- android

You are overreacting but completely understood as a Windows user having to live in constant fear every time a website is visited or when an email is opened. My personal money has never been spent on that insecure garbage and never will.

I have a Macbook running OSX 10.8.5. I also clicked on the fake Costco email and now everything is running slow and my Trend Micro Security antivirus is disabled. What can I do to get things cleaned up?

Thanks,

Charles

I venture to say nothing was installed on your Mac by simply opending this email - not unless you were prompted for your admin password and entered it after opening the email.

If you think this is some OS X virus - there are none, or malware/spyware, re-enable your Trend Micro Security antivirus.

I also received the costco email virus, opened it on my ipad2, and stupidly followed the link.

Nothing happened via the link so I moved on to another google+ email which had also ended up in my spam folder. This had some of my own photos in it, looked like a regular google+ email so I thought it was genuine. I was then asked to enter my gmail password, which happens quite regularly, so I did.

Immediately after this, I noticed my gmail and iCloud accounts had disappeared from view completely on my iPad email application, both accounts are still in the settings but I can't see them on the left hand side of the mail app. Tried re-installing the gmail account, no difference.

My fear now is that the google+ email was also a virus and now my gmail account has been hacked and iPad infected with some nasty virus.

Anyone had the same experience? can offer me some comfort? tell me how to get my iPad mail apps working again?

There are no viruses that affect or infect iOS - none, zilch, zero, nada. Copied from my previous post.

It is not a threat to iOS with a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iPhone. Nothing can be installed on a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iOS device without your knowledge and opening an email alone on an iOS device can't install anything.

Nothing can prevent someone from visiting a fake website included with a link in an email and manually entering information there, but that is a far cry from malware being installed on a non-hacked/non-jailbroken iOS device automatically by simply opening an email.

Thanks Allan, I thought that was the case.

What freaked me is the immediate problem I had/still have with the iPad mail app, after opening the costco virus. Of my 3 mail accounts - I can now only 'view' one (deleting/reading makes no difference). Has anybody else had this problem?