Fake Apple Account Emails and Texts: How to Tell

Fake Apple emails and texts usually want one of three things: your Apple Account password, a two-factor code, or a payment — often in Apple Gift Cards. Apple is unusually specific about what it will never ask for, which makes these fakes easy to spot.

Quick check: paste the sender’s address into Is this Apple email real?

What Apple says it will never ask for

• Your Apple Account password, your device passcode, or a two-factor authentication code — “Apple never asks for this information to provide support.”
• To log in to any website, or to tap Accept on a two-factor prompt.
• To turn off any security feature on your device or account.

And on gift cards: Apple says never to use Apple Gift Cards to make payments to other people.

Apple’s warning signs

• The sender’s email or phone number doesn’t match the company it claims to be from.
• It reached you at an address or number different from the one you gave Apple.
• A link looks right, but its real address doesn’t match Apple’s website.
• It looks noticeably different from other messages you’ve had from Apple.
• It asks for personal information such as a card number or password.
• It’s unsolicited and has an attachment.

Apple doesn’t publish a list of its sending addresses. Its own domain is apple.com; look-alikes such as app1e.com, apple.com.verify-id.info (where the real domain is verify-id.info) or “Apple Support” on a Gmail address are not Apple. The Apple sender check flags them, and the Email Header Analyzer shows whether a message really came from an Apple domain.

Signs your Apple Account may already be compromised

Apple lists these:

• Apple notifies you, by notification or email, about account activity you don’t recognise.
• You receive a two-factor authentication code you didn’t ask for.
• Your password no longer works.
• Your device was locked or put in Lost Mode by someone else.

If you entered your details on a fake page

Apple’s advice: change your Apple Account password immediately and make sure two-factor authentication is on. Then, from Apple’s steps for a compromised account:

1. Change the password to a strong, unique one — or reset it if someone else has already changed it.
2. Update any personal or security information that isn’t correct at account.apple.com.
3. Under Devices, remove any you don’t recognise.
4. Make sure you control every email address and phone number linked to your Apple Account.
5. Turn on two-factor authentication if it’s not on already — it’s designed to stop access even when someone knows your password.

Gave a code or tapped Accept on a prompt you didn’t start? Treat it the same way: change your password now. More help: what to do after a phishing email.

Report it

• Email: forward it to reportphishing@apple.com.
• Text message (SMS): take a screenshot and email it to reportphishing@apple.com.
• In Messages: tap Report Junk under the message.

More places to report: how to report phishing.

More help

• Is this Apple email real? — check any sender against what Apple publishes, with look-alike examples.
• How to spot phishing emails — the warning signs and tricks, for any company.
• How to check if an email is real — the headers and DMARC, app by app.
• Clicked a phishing link or gave your password? — what to do, step by step.
• How to report phishing emails — every place worth telling.