Apple’s new model of iPhone is great news for gadget enthusiasts and online scammers alike.
Electronic releases don’t come any more anticipated than when Apple announce details and release dates for their latest iPhone model which happened this week.
Of course this means that dedicated Apple fans will be queuing patiently along city centre streets at silly o’clock in the morning, and it also means social media will be plagued with online scams using the latest gadget as bait.
This week Apple announced not one, but two new models to succeed the iPhone 5 – the iPhone 5C and the higher-end 5S, to be released within a few weeks. And like any must-have electronic due for an imminent release, the phones will be perfect bait to lure victims into a variety of online scams, such as survey scams and identity theft.
Inevitably the “usual suspect” scams appeared only hours after Apple announced the two new models. This includes Facebook Pages and photos popping up all over the social networking site asserting that sharing/liking the photo will [possibly] win you the latest iPhone, or that you can claim your iPhone as soon as you visit an external website and part with almost every piece of personal information about you.
Malware scams will also appear, that lead you to external websites that ask you to install software in order to claim your prize.
Bogus emails will also feature in the latest batch of scams. Fake “prize notification” emails will be a popular choice, trying to trick victims into thinking they’ve won an iPhone when in reality they will lead to malware-laden sites/attachments or more survey scams.
Remember a few things in the next few months – you can only win competitions you have entered, you won’t win an iPhone by sharing a photo on Facebook or completing bogus surveys, and always be immediately sceptical of social media posts/emails/websites that pertain to the latest batch of iPhones.
Let you friends know!
