As part of our work to prevent cyber crime, Warwickshire’s newly appointed Cyber Crime Advisors are raising awareness of emerging scams to the community so that residents in the county can reduce their risk of becoming a victim.

iPhone users are being warned to look out for a text message from ‘Apple Inc’, informing them that their iCloud account will be deactivated and asking for their personal details. The texts are not from Apple at all.

The scam text contains a link to a website where the targeted customers are being asked to reactivate their account. The text message reads: “[Name] Your Apple ID is due to be expire today. Prevent this by confirming your Apple ID at [link] – Apple Inc.” The advice on offer if you receive this text is to delete it straight away.

When users tap on the link, a fake version of the Apple website is presented to customers, who are asked to enter their username and password. In addition, personal details such as date of birth, phone numbers and even bank details are being asked for.

Those who are unsure about the status of their Apple ID, iCloud accounts and other Apple accounts are advised to go directly to Apple’s support pages on their website.

Apple are recommending that anybody who has already followed the links and entered their personal information to report it to them as soon as possible, and to visit iforgot.apple.com in order to reset their password.

For more information about the work of Warwickshire’s Cyber Crime Advisors, please visit www.safeinwarwickshire.com/cybercrime

Be Cyber Streetwise is a cross-government campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. They aim to measurably and significantly improve the online safety behaviour and confidence of consumers and small businesses (SMEs).

Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety. Their website offers advice on how you can protect yourself, your computers and devices, and your business against the likes of fraud, identity theft, viruses and other potential online problems.