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my wife got a notice on her macbook air: "APPLE detected security error due to suspicious activity. please contact Apple certified technicians to rectify the issue: 1 866 686 7348." is this a real apple phone

checking for validity of security message from phone # 1 866 686 7348, supposedly from apple

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Nov 22, 2015 8:05 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 22, 2015 9:45 PM

It is a scam


don't call the number all they want to do is steal your money and personal information for sale.

11 replies

Nov 23, 2015 12:05 PM in response to billg9

Apple can't tell you through your browser that you have a problem.


Sometimes if you search for a suspect number (using whatever search engine you prefer), you will turn up complaints. Lately I've gotten a few scam calls on my iPhone, and found Spam (or Scam) complaints already posted about each of the numbers. You can usually do a reverse lookup free of charge, also.


A reverse lookup yielded this: "Owner's name hidden by Whitepages for privacy reasons. Owner is based in United States." Obviously not an Apple number.

Nov 23, 2015 1:20 PM in response to billg9

Here is my rule. If the browser pops up any dialog, or redirects me to any site, I assume it is fraudulent. Sometimes the Safari quit is purposely blocked by the pop up dialog, or attempting to quit changes the dialog to leave page/stay on page. Don't click anything. Press option+command+esc and force quit the entire browser session. Press and hold the shift key on launching Safari again, and then select Clear History… (every item is checked). I even go as far as Emptying the Cache from the Safari Developer menu.

Nov 24, 2015 8:04 PM in response to Eric Root

thanks allan, eric, kahjot & viking,


my wife went to the local apple store & one of the “geniuses” there installed malwarebytes & that got her up & running again. this is the first time either one of us has had a problem like this. i know we are lucky & we’re glad it didn’t take down the whole system.

thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with me -- & others.


have a nice thanksgiving.


bill gray

Nov 24, 2015 8:27 PM in response to VikingOSX

not sure how this reply system works, but this is what i sent to all who responded to my question:


thanks allan, eric, kahjot & viking,


my wife went to the local apple store & one of the “geniuses” there installed malwarebytes & that got her up & running again. this is the first time either one of us has had a problem like this. i know we are lucky & we’re glad it didn’t take down the whole system.

thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with me -- & others.


have a nice thanksgiving.


bill gray

Nov 26, 2015 10:33 PM in response to billg9

I Had this happen just last week. Though the screen looked official (I was working in Safari at time and had that icon at top), I knew it was a fake. A recent article had suggested googling any suspect numbers rather than call; which I did, and it was an Unknown.) It had locked up my MacBook Pro, and since I have had a few problems throughout the past few years, I took a picture of the pop up malware screen with my iPhone to have a record (as MBP frozen so no screenshots!) and, though I knew what to do to get out of it, I called Apple Support to report it and have the tech (it was late and no seniors were around) walk me through what to do and made sure he filed a report and also put it in my file. There wasn't much else he could do - though he could have suggested Malwarebytes, which is a great program and not on my MBP at that moment as I was preparing for clean install of El Capitan. I also FILED A REPORT WITH THE FCC - which I strongly urge you - or anyone who runs into any type of weird problem seemingly stemming from an unsavory source - to do. They take them seriously and use the data to compile stats on malware, Trojans etc. in the wild, numbers affected etc. Though this malware, scam, whatever that your wife and I both experienced, did not get far, there are far worse things out there - and huge strings of botnets, constantly increasing in size, have the potential to take down our grid and may well be the work of terrorist groups. Hope your holiday has been lovely - and please: File a Report with FCC!

my wife got a notice on her macbook air: "APPLE detected security error due to suspicious activity. please contact Apple certified technicians to rectify the issue: 1 866 686 7348." is this a real apple phone

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