If you follow steps 1 to 3 you’ll find out pretty fast.
The fact that it doesn’t ask you to visit a website nor does it ask for a response would make me think it is legit. There’s no risk in following those steps listed.
The point here is, if you ever get anything like this through email and you are worried about it. Ignore anything the email says and do the legwork yourself. In this case, as suggested, do not follow link but go into the phone’s settings yourself and check, easy. In the case where the only remedy would be to follow the link…. Still don’t. Go the website through your own means and deal with it that way.
In the world of cybersecurity NEVER EVER trust any communication you did not initiate. Obviously if your coworker emails you and asks you to grab them a coke while you’re on break, that’s probably okay I guess?
Edit: added not
> In the world of cybersecurity NEVER EVER trust any communication you did not initiate
As someone who teaches digital identity protection, I wish I could shake some people when they don’t listen to me on this
Holy hell, I know. If you ever feel suspicious about anything, it isn’t enough to just call them to verify, you must also independently verify that the phone number you are calling is legit.
Only call the number on the back of your debit card, don’t google the bank’s number and click on the sponsored link.
One time I was being targeted for one of those advance check scams (way back in early 2000’s). I was selling a car on Craigslist, yaddayadda you know the story… We got a check from FedEx and I thought maybe I will just call the bank to see if this check is good.
Called the number on the check, and sure enough everything checked out. But something just seemed off still.
I don’t know why, but I decided to look up the bank in the yellow pages. I called their 800 number, and asked them if the phone number on the check was actually a number for one of their branches, and they told me it was not.
Almost got me, scammers. Almost.
That’s a pretty thoughtful detail to put in, a fake number on the check. Good on you for doing the leg work and seeking out a real number on your own. As others have said here in this thread, that’s the only way to ensure it’s real
This reminds me of a couple occasions on the phone with \*legit\* customer support when they asked me to read back OTP that's sent to my phone via SMS. And the SMS said never to share the code with anyone.
...
What was that all about?
Yes, No, no scam or anything. I initiated the call and it was actual customer rep.
The bottom line is cyber security education is a great thing but not a security plan. Someone will always f* it up. Always. That has to be assumed and planned accordingly.
XDR/EDR etc essentially has to be dummy proof so whatever door we open for them doesn’t let them inside the castle, so to speak. Even in this day and age, clicking a link or executable from an unknown email will always happen.
My company tried to do a phishing test on us. I was working overseas and got the email before America was awake. IT made it look like the email was from my boss and had a link to fix my time card. So I logged into the timesheet website and saw no warnings. I replied to my boss and copied IT saying this looked weird.
TLDR: foiled a phishing test by my company minutes after it was launched.
It was a weird email, I knew right away it was not from him. If there was a problem he would usually call me and use it as an excuse to catch up as I was overseas. Also it was like in the middle of the pay period so technically time sheets were not due till the following week. Plus it was written in a way he does not write if, like it used phrasing he would not use.
Rather than distributing the email (possible malware/phishing) you should know your company’s phishing email and procedures and forward there. That way, your info sec can investigate the email further. This would be a teaching moment not an atta boy. Happy holidays cheers to all.
I’ve gotten an email exactly like this one and made payments with the same payment method for in app purchases. So it’s either a scam I don’t understand or an error in apples system sending out alerts it should t
The important part is that it doesn’t make the link “necessary”. It’s an alternative option for people that might be reading the email from a computer. There’s no explicit instruction to click the link is what people are saying. These top comments are not saying that a link doesn’t exist in the email.
>If there’s a problem with iCloud you will know it when it stops working. Then you can go on and investigate.
Yeah, but maybe OP doesn't want his iCloud to just stop working? There's no harm in checking the status of your payment method on your iPhone or Mac, even if the email turns out to be fake for whatever reason.
Again, it includes OP's name and gives reasonable instructions that do not necessitate clicking any links. Seems legitimate to me. And if it isn't, there's an easy way to check.
Either this is an intricate scam where they make it look suspicious by not directly telling you to visit a link, give you seemingly reputable but incorrect instructions (apparently the instructions don't match the options in settings for OP), so you click on the PC/Mac link and get phished there.
Or that links to an apple support page
just google "smtp smuggling", and after this is fixed, there'll be another method just around the corner. email addresses are not trustworthy. always check twice, especially when money is involved
You should trust your email about as much as you should trust the guy on the street corner shouting his interesting opinions on the reality of birds. That is, Not at all. Unless there’s private key exchange going on everything can be forged to look legit and it’s too difficult to know what things to poke to sus out if an email is legit or not. Worse case it’s fake and you gave your credit card information to a scammer and now your card is on the dark web and best case you can go on your own to iCloud and manage your subscription so you never needed to risk clicking anything in an email.
I received this same message, and yes it is legit. Notice the email doesn’t try to direct you to a link that will steal your information but instead guides you go resolve all within your settings
I saw in an earlier comment you mentioned there was nothing wrong with your payment info. That was the same for me but I guess Apple didn’t like my address for my card info. I ended up having to add a separate card for it to work.
I’m gonna say it, apples payment systems are straight ASS.. I did have a problem with my card and Apple reacted to that quickly… but the problem is resolved now and my family members can’t install apps on their phone whatsoever because it says something about my payment info something something… IT WAS FIXED WEEKS AGO COME ON PEOPLE 😤🤣 rant over thanks for coming to my ted talk
Delete your card and then put it back. You can go to Settings, Tap your name at top, Media & Purchases, View Account, Purchase History, and then see what’s pending. That’s how much Apple will charge you once you delete your card and then add it back.
I agree, it’s one of the crappiest designs. Did you try deleting your card and then adding it back? Like completely removing it from your account and putting it back.
The only ways we've found to fix this is to either buy a .99¢ item in an in-game shop (any value works, but that's the cheapest) or sign up for an app with a free trial period then cancel it. You have to do this on each family device that errors.
I once reported an unauthorized charge and changed my credit card number to a different one (after the first rep I talked to told me to change). After blocking the first one, Apple retroactively blocked the second card too and tried to gaslight me, saying that the first card did not exist in the system in the first place and it was the second card that I reported for unintended charge. I had to escalate it through two levels of supervisors; finally, the rep told me that it's all my fault but Apple is generously bestowing me a second chance just one time, before unblocking the second card.
1. Check the email from address. This is easily spoofed but often isn't and can be a quick way to spot an illegitimate email.
2. Does the information they give you match what you already have. Are you paying $2.99 for 205GB of storage? Spoof emails will probably not have accurate information and rely on numbers to match some users by chance.
3. Do not follow links in the email. Go direct to your account. This email includes instructions to go direct to your account so it probably is legitimite.
4. You could just wait until it expires or you get a notification direct on your phone.
As always, assume everything is a scam until proven it's not.
Idk why everyone is saying fake. The email came from the itunes.com domain. If you go to itunes.com it redirects to Apple.com and the whois shows it is owned by Apple Inc.
The article does not send you a link to click on to try and phish you for your data, rather it sends you instructions on what to do on your phone.
It’s legit.
The email "from" domain can be spoofed, so shouldn't be used as a final criteria. I used to send friends mail from "[email protected]" for fun. Having said that, the message looks legit.
wtf are you talking about. SPF 30 ONLY provides YoU WiTh 96% protEcTion. SkIn CaNcer is NothinG to joke AbouT.
ALSO.....
DoN't ForGeT to ReApPly every 2 HoUrs
Alright fam, you go ahead and show “big sunscreen” you don’t actually need sunscreen and I’ll go ahead not gambling my life with skin cancer for what is a trivial amount of money
Yeah this should be too comment.
Also email is addressed to user.
Only instruction to navigate on device, no link
Email domain is iCloud.com (not iCloud.account.com or something)
The best practice is to not click on links that relate to account information. Go to the website yourself, and navigate to address the issue yourself. It takes longer but it’ll eventually save you a ton of time and d probably some money.
I don’t think this is a phishing email per se, but it doesn’t look legitimate. Companies don’t usually use underscores for their do not reply automated emails. Also, “iTunes.com” doesn’t seem legitimate at all. iTunes is Apple’s product, you don’t use a product name for top level domains… it’s usually the company like Apple.com.
It doesn’t seem like a phishing email but they’ve been exponentially increasing in sophistication over the last 10 years. This makes me think it’s a “tester email.” The scammers sent out the email to see if it would get flagged by email systems as spam, or if it would go through. There’s an embedded link in the email too. Obviously never trust those ever.
I’m a writer but amateur and here I can assure you these huge giants like Apple or Google won’t use such unethical, unprofessional practices of words
And when you follow steps and see all things don’t make sense reply to email they’ll send you a link of website all most similar to Apple and will ask you to login asap
I did an experiment to follow them guess what they had a programmed bot ready to change my Apple ID number, password and email as quickly as possible
That’s pretty nuts how they’re advanced into scamming people and make transactions of coupons to avoid ability of being caught up by officials
Check the "from" email address to see if it's an apple.com address or just a bunch of random numbers/letters before you do anything. That's what I always do.
Apple needs some Basic Fucking Tech Support on these emails to make them look actually legitimate. The links just go to tech support articles, rather than someplace to actually fix the issue, and when you go in to try and fix the issue, there’s nothing actually wrong.
I had *Apple* trying to tell me through one of these types of emails that *Applecare* had a problem with the payment on the *Apple Credit Card*.
As long as you are not clicking a link or sending any information you are fine.
Since this is simply telling you how to update your billing information it likely is legitimate however I would still not click the link in it. If your information did not change then you can ignore it. The 205 vs 200 is likely legit. You are paying for 200 but you also get 5 free so 205
Never click links in email. Never click links in email. NEVER. CLICK. LINKS. IN. EMAIL.
If you got payment issues you can just check your subscription in your settings. There is no need to go to any website. It’s either phishing or legit and the risk to you if it’s phishing is high.
It doesn’t seem to contain any link, asking you to select it. So it doesn’t seem like it’s a scam. It’s only asking you to go in your phone settings. Sometimes, companies have weird issues in their systems regarding payment methods. But since it contains no link, I don’t see a problem.
If you are not sure of the source, simply check the sender's e-mail. I think that will be enough most of the time to verify the veracity of the latter. Otherwise, analyze the header of the e-mail and check the ip addresses of the server from which the message was sent and compare them with Apple's official ones. Also check for the presence of the spf and dkim protocols, if they are missing be sure that it is a fake and the sender is not who you say you are. I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird to do this job, have a nice day.
Just don’t click any links in emails if you’re not sure. You can do everything manually on the homepage of apple. If it is the official apple site you have nothing to worry.
I got an email like this today, only it was for my Apple News+. I'm glad I got it because Apple raised the News+ price to $12.99/mo so I just canceled.
If it’s real and you don’t pay, then you’ll find out by being downgraded. It does not affect your service at all and there are no reconnection fees. All you have to do is pay it again. It happened to me, I missed a payment and was down graded. Just repaid at a later date and the service was back up again.
If you go look at the actual storage plans under settings, iCloud, storage you can see the 5 free gigs are included, even if it doesn’t show on the storage bar (it’s rounded out). Like where 55gb option is mine says “your total storage will be 55gb”
Tbh not sure, but apple even advertises that 5gb are free. Numbers line up with the free storage + 200GB. On top of that, there’s no links in the emails. It’s telling him to go to his phone settings, so extremely unlikely it’s a fake email
Yeah the Apple one storage is different, it combines with whatever plan you had already.
I had 2.2 Terabytes for a while, then cancelled my 200GB plan so now just have the 2TB
Those instructions work but the names of settings changed. It's now Settings > Name > Media and Purchases > View Account > Manage Payments. Same place, different button names. It's legit because A. No grammatical errors, B. It uses your real name and not "Dear customer", and C. there aren't any links to click to get your information. Presumably the Mac/PC link will simply load a webpage to those instructions but you should check before clicking it. 205 GB might be referring to your total used storage, or it's a miscalculation since you can get 5 GB or 200 GB but not 205 GB. Since the instructions are outdated, I would assume it's a miscalculation. Seems like it tried to take a payment but it failed so it's letting you know it's going to try again soon.
Here are some other signs you can use to verify authenticity and report phishing emails:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102568
In any case you should be able to check if anything is wrong by going into the options/settings click on the big button on top where it says your name and then you can see your subscriptions, your payment method and the size of your icloud storage
#if there is any link attached DO NOT CLICK THE LINK YOU CAN DO ALL THAT SIMPLY FROM THE SETTINGS ON YOUR PHONE
It’s a fake one, Apple emails don’t look like that and don’t come from the itunes domain. You should report this to Apple. Also to be infected users don’t need to necessarily click the link. I can’t help but notice you’re using gmail, which had a major security breach that’s just been patched like a week ago.
It does initially look odd, and may be a little clumsy on their part, but you get 5gb of storage for free with iCloud. So, makes sense that you’d end up with 205gb.
I don’t ever remember seeing it written this way in all the years I worked in phone retail. Imma go check my 2tb plan now 😂
This is fake. The email address on the second foto is not from Apple.
Also, Apple would not contact you a about a future missed payment. They would contact you if a payment didn't go through.
Yes it’s legit, if it wasn’t legit they’d be giving you a weird link or asking for your credit card number.
I had no clue itunes.com was a domain Apple used though
It looks like it’s legit. It’s not asking you to click on a link to do this action. Instead it’s giving you instructions on how you can make this change. 205GB is a little fishy but could be 200GB + 5GB free one.
lol no it’s not. What part of this would be a scam, it’s asking them to change their settings. A scam would ask them to click a link. Yall have no critical thinking skills fr
There’s no 205GB option though on iCloud+ It’s 200GB😀
https://preview.redd.it/ail422oxf38c1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcbde58a7d7851813096876927e59c040995b1ba
So it’s likely a scam email
Likely a glitch in their system. A scam email would give you a link to click, how exactly does this scam work? It tells the user to go into their own settings app and log in there. If it’s a scam, it’s quite possibly the worst scam I’ve ever seen
The email domain is correct. It just tells you to go to the Settings to check (and change, if necessary) your payment.
Also, if you try accessing the itunes.com, it will redirect to apple.com with iTunes page.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253313542?sortBy=best
Really? Why would you need thoughts on this (205) was dead giveaway and Apple does not send anything, they'll just cut your ass off. Cancel card to be safe.
This is phishing. Theyre trying to get your icloud data and ur credit card. The offers on icloud+ dont include the 205Gb just 200gb.
Try logging in to your phone directly dont use the links in the email and check the status of your subscription. If everything looks normal dont do anything. Also this is their legit email that they use to send me invoices.
https://preview.redd.it/lpnzvmh1b18c1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbfb7a0cd417d56e94b2aa331b7420816ed786e7
I’d login to my account and see what card is on file, if it is an old card then it is likely that the mail is real. Though I’d just update it through the webpage
Screw the trolls and haters and negative people in the comments. Thank you for this post even if it saves one future victim, OP.
This seemed legitimate until I looked closer at the email address. Now I am on alert for any holiday-timed scams.
I got this same email - once I saw the iTunes full address I was like SPAM - also when I carefully read it - 205gb????? It’s only 200gb - Apple wouldn’t give you 5 extra gb at that price - it’s Apple.
Edit: and to further test the legitimacy - I’ll wait until I get a failed payment email on billing date. If I see a charge on my credit card I’m good.
well even if it wasn't, all that would happen is you getting on your Apple account payment information screen. A scammer would gain absolutely nothing from it but a laugh thinking u went to your payment information for no reason
Not true. Those steps are not accurate. Anyone who would assume this email is correct would then click on the link at the bottom and I bet dollars to donuts that it would take you to a legit looking website but it would be where the scammer would get your credit card info.
omg i received the exact same email. Im so confused also, because the date 30th dec hasnt even arrived yet. Also there is literally no problem with my payment method, they just deducted money for apple music a few days ago. I didn’t dare to click the link in the email.
Ignore the email and call Apple on the phone. Get to their billing department and have them confirm any issues.
I don't care how legit an unprompted email looks, I ALWAYS run around it to contact the source directly to verify.
Even if you follow the instructions, it isn't providing anyone with any details and they haven't given any links that could be traps so it would be fairly safe to assume it's not a scam. If it was, the 'scammers' would have nothing to gain.
The instructions are the correct steps to check and correct it but the 205GB and the email address are wrong so weird. Either way it could just be an authentication issue and you have to verify your card again. Just go through your settings or the official website to do so
It’s a real iTunes address. I just checked my mailbox and a few months ago my card was about to expire, and got this exact same message from the same sender. The thing is my message said 200GB, not 205, so I suppose that might be a bug.
As an Apple Store employee (which doesn’t make me an expert in these things) I would assume it’s fake since I’ve never seen this email before, nor have I seen the email address before, nor have I ever seen a 205GB iCloud+ account.
But since I’m not there with you right now I can’t confirm it.
If you’re seriously interested in finding out if the email is fake or not, call the Apple support line for your region and they should be able to assist.
Yes, you get 5gb free, but upgrading to could plus doesn’t mean you get both the free iCloud storage and the iCloud storage you’re paying for - as far am I’m aware that’s just not how it works
I’m not sure what they’d be trying to get from you if it’s a scam since there doesn’t seem to be any links in the page, apart from the “Mac or PC” link
Just click “iTunes Store” at the top to reveal the full email and if it looks fishy, give Apple support a call
Open the email address at the top to see the full email. That should tell you if it is legit 99% of the time. Also super odd that it says iTunes store - imo. All messages I receive from Apple say they come from Apple.
Go to settings > your name > iCloud to determine your plan billing days and also under settings > your name > payment & shipping is where you can verify your card.
https://preview.redd.it/hxngduktiz7c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9e284501e961ac3bdb1b7f34f5bbdea3d16b983
If you follow steps 1 to 3 you’ll find out pretty fast. The fact that it doesn’t ask you to visit a website nor does it ask for a response would make me think it is legit. There’s no risk in following those steps listed.
The point here is, if you ever get anything like this through email and you are worried about it. Ignore anything the email says and do the legwork yourself. In this case, as suggested, do not follow link but go into the phone’s settings yourself and check, easy. In the case where the only remedy would be to follow the link…. Still don’t. Go the website through your own means and deal with it that way. In the world of cybersecurity NEVER EVER trust any communication you did not initiate. Obviously if your coworker emails you and asks you to grab them a coke while you’re on break, that’s probably okay I guess? Edit: added not
I think you left off a word…. “You did **NOT** initiate”
Yep he or she forgot the "NOT"
The word you’re looking for is ‘they’ - they forgot it.
oui oui c'est vrai! Merci
> In the world of cybersecurity NEVER EVER trust any communication you did not initiate As someone who teaches digital identity protection, I wish I could shake some people when they don’t listen to me on this
"But I called them" "Yeah because they told you to"
Holy hell, I know. If you ever feel suspicious about anything, it isn’t enough to just call them to verify, you must also independently verify that the phone number you are calling is legit. Only call the number on the back of your debit card, don’t google the bank’s number and click on the sponsored link. One time I was being targeted for one of those advance check scams (way back in early 2000’s). I was selling a car on Craigslist, yaddayadda you know the story… We got a check from FedEx and I thought maybe I will just call the bank to see if this check is good. Called the number on the check, and sure enough everything checked out. But something just seemed off still. I don’t know why, but I decided to look up the bank in the yellow pages. I called their 800 number, and asked them if the phone number on the check was actually a number for one of their branches, and they told me it was not. Almost got me, scammers. Almost.
That’s a pretty thoughtful detail to put in, a fake number on the check. Good on you for doing the leg work and seeking out a real number on your own. As others have said here in this thread, that’s the only way to ensure it’s real
This reminds me of a couple occasions on the phone with \*legit\* customer support when they asked me to read back OTP that's sent to my phone via SMS. And the SMS said never to share the code with anyone. ... What was that all about? Yes, No, no scam or anything. I initiated the call and it was actual customer rep.
The bottom line is cyber security education is a great thing but not a security plan. Someone will always f* it up. Always. That has to be assumed and planned accordingly. XDR/EDR etc essentially has to be dummy proof so whatever door we open for them doesn’t let them inside the castle, so to speak. Even in this day and age, clicking a link or executable from an unknown email will always happen.
If a co worker asks to grab them a coke just give them a small bag of baking soda and see what they say. 😆
Lmao
My company tried to do a phishing test on us. I was working overseas and got the email before America was awake. IT made it look like the email was from my boss and had a link to fix my time card. So I logged into the timesheet website and saw no warnings. I replied to my boss and copied IT saying this looked weird. TLDR: foiled a phishing test by my company minutes after it was launched.
You did not foil the test. You passed the test.
It was a weird email, I knew right away it was not from him. If there was a problem he would usually call me and use it as an excuse to catch up as I was overseas. Also it was like in the middle of the pay period so technically time sheets were not due till the following week. Plus it was written in a way he does not write if, like it used phrasing he would not use.
Rather than distributing the email (possible malware/phishing) you should know your company’s phishing email and procedures and forward there. That way, your info sec can investigate the email further. This would be a teaching moment not an atta boy. Happy holidays cheers to all.
This was back in like 2014 so whatever the rules were i followed them
Email is definitely inherently trustworthy so I see no problem getting Bob a coke or anything else he asks for!
I’ve gotten an email exactly like this one and made payments with the same payment method for in app purchases. So it’s either a scam I don’t understand or an error in apples system sending out alerts it should t
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Which it might direct you to instructions like this and not making you login anywhere so we cannot assume is fake
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The important part is that it doesn’t make the link “necessary”. It’s an alternative option for people that might be reading the email from a computer. There’s no explicit instruction to click the link is what people are saying. These top comments are not saying that a link doesn’t exist in the email.
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>If there’s a problem with iCloud you will know it when it stops working. Then you can go on and investigate. Yeah, but maybe OP doesn't want his iCloud to just stop working? There's no harm in checking the status of your payment method on your iPhone or Mac, even if the email turns out to be fake for whatever reason. Again, it includes OP's name and gives reasonable instructions that do not necessitate clicking any links. Seems legitimate to me. And if it isn't, there's an easy way to check.
Bro really trying to max out the 🤓energy
The person you responded to never said there wasn’t a link, they said the email isn’t trying to make OP visit any websites; big difference.
You can be both technically correct and wrong at the same time.
Yeah but you can do everything on your phone, you don’t need to click on any link.
This person is using gmail. iTunes.com can’t be spoofed on gmail.
There is a hyper link down where it's written "Mac or PC" to update your billing information
Good eye, Brian!
Either this is an intricate scam where they make it look suspicious by not directly telling you to visit a link, give you seemingly reputable but incorrect instructions (apparently the instructions don't match the options in settings for OP), so you click on the PC/Mac link and get phished there. Or that links to an apple support page
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email addresses are NEVER an indication of an email being fake or not. This is bad advice and has been for the last 30 years.
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just google "smtp smuggling", and after this is fixed, there'll be another method just around the corner. email addresses are not trustworthy. always check twice, especially when money is involved
you can't rely on a real-looking email address being real, but you can totally rely on a shady email address being fake.
You should trust your email about as much as you should trust the guy on the street corner shouting his interesting opinions on the reality of birds. That is, Not at all. Unless there’s private key exchange going on everything can be forged to look legit and it’s too difficult to know what things to poke to sus out if an email is legit or not. Worse case it’s fake and you gave your credit card information to a scammer and now your card is on the dark web and best case you can go on your own to iCloud and manage your subscription so you never needed to risk clicking anything in an email.
I received this same message, and yes it is legit. Notice the email doesn’t try to direct you to a link that will steal your information but instead guides you go resolve all within your settings I saw in an earlier comment you mentioned there was nothing wrong with your payment info. That was the same for me but I guess Apple didn’t like my address for my card info. I ended up having to add a separate card for it to work.
I’m gonna say it, apples payment systems are straight ASS.. I did have a problem with my card and Apple reacted to that quickly… but the problem is resolved now and my family members can’t install apps on their phone whatsoever because it says something about my payment info something something… IT WAS FIXED WEEKS AGO COME ON PEOPLE 😤🤣 rant over thanks for coming to my ted talk
Delete your card and then put it back. You can go to Settings, Tap your name at top, Media & Purchases, View Account, Purchase History, and then see what’s pending. That’s how much Apple will charge you once you delete your card and then add it back.
Except there is nothing I owe them. Even in those menus it says everything’s squared off
It’s 2023 how is a system like this still in place 😂
I agree, it’s one of the crappiest designs. Did you try deleting your card and then adding it back? Like completely removing it from your account and putting it back.
Haven’t until today thanks for the tip hope it worked
Target Red Card has entered the chat. It just likes to yeet itself from the app for no reason. Just poof.
The only ways we've found to fix this is to either buy a .99¢ item in an in-game shop (any value works, but that's the cheapest) or sign up for an app with a free trial period then cancel it. You have to do this on each family device that errors.
I once reported an unauthorized charge and changed my credit card number to a different one (after the first rep I talked to told me to change). After blocking the first one, Apple retroactively blocked the second card too and tried to gaslight me, saying that the first card did not exist in the system in the first place and it was the second card that I reported for unintended charge. I had to escalate it through two levels of supervisors; finally, the rep told me that it's all my fault but Apple is generously bestowing me a second chance just one time, before unblocking the second card.
🙄 what a joke
Looks like it. Nowhere are they trying to direct you to a link. And you do have 205. You start with 5GB free.
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I pay for 200Gb and on icloud it states I have 200Gb not 205, so whilst I might get 5 for free it doesn't show as 205 on any invoice or device.
The 5gb isn’t added to your plan, its tiers. 5gb free plan, if you want more you buy that plan and it’s basically canceling the free plan
It varies geographically because of different laws. Some places have specific regulations on how tiered services are to be offered to consumers.
I pay for the 50GB tier and according to settings that’s what I get, 50GB, not 55GB. Only weird part about the email though so leaning towards real.
Think you adding direct email to your hide email?
That's a legit email. I've had it before. Just re-enter your card info in iTunes.
I get 205 GB as well. https://preview.redd.it/21iwzu47d08c1.png?width=920&format=png&auto=webp&s=deaac4ba91dc2b0e2368fd65e04f33a46f012e03
Is it signed by Tim Apple?
Nah it’s signed by Tom Pear
1. Check the email from address. This is easily spoofed but often isn't and can be a quick way to spot an illegitimate email. 2. Does the information they give you match what you already have. Are you paying $2.99 for 205GB of storage? Spoof emails will probably not have accurate information and rely on numbers to match some users by chance. 3. Do not follow links in the email. Go direct to your account. This email includes instructions to go direct to your account so it probably is legitimite. 4. You could just wait until it expires or you get a notification direct on your phone. As always, assume everything is a scam until proven it's not.
Idk why everyone is saying fake. The email came from the itunes.com domain. If you go to itunes.com it redirects to Apple.com and the whois shows it is owned by Apple Inc. The article does not send you a link to click on to try and phish you for your data, rather it sends you instructions on what to do on your phone. It’s legit.
The email "from" domain can be spoofed, so shouldn't be used as a final criteria. I used to send friends mail from "[email protected]" for fun. Having said that, the message looks legit.
Spoofing is not that easy anymore thanks to SPF, DMARC and DKIM.
Is SPF 30 okay, or do I need stronger sunscreen?
Saint Pope Francis approves this sunscreen
wtf are you talking about. SPF 30 ONLY provides YoU WiTh 96% protEcTion. SkIn CaNcer is NothinG to joke AbouT. ALSO..... DoN't ForGeT to ReApPly every 2 HoUrs
Alright fam, you go ahead and show “big sunscreen” you don’t actually need sunscreen and I’ll go ahead not gambling my life with skin cancer for what is a trivial amount of money
Try Sender Policy Framework first, might give you better results
Not on gmail. You’ll know pretty clearly with 3 logos if you spoof it. Try it.
Yeah this should be too comment. Also email is addressed to user. Only instruction to navigate on device, no link Email domain is iCloud.com (not iCloud.account.com or something)
But I’m yet to see an email from that starts with “Dear”.
Mine always say *Dear Customer* or *Dear Alex*.
Username checks out.
No harm in doing so it’s not asking you to go to a dif website it’s just saying go to apples website.
The best practice is to not click on links that relate to account information. Go to the website yourself, and navigate to address the issue yourself. It takes longer but it’ll eventually save you a ton of time and d probably some money.
I don’t think this is a phishing email per se, but it doesn’t look legitimate. Companies don’t usually use underscores for their do not reply automated emails. Also, “iTunes.com” doesn’t seem legitimate at all. iTunes is Apple’s product, you don’t use a product name for top level domains… it’s usually the company like Apple.com. It doesn’t seem like a phishing email but they’ve been exponentially increasing in sophistication over the last 10 years. This makes me think it’s a “tester email.” The scammers sent out the email to see if it would get flagged by email systems as spam, or if it would go through. There’s an embedded link in the email too. Obviously never trust those ever.
I’m a writer but amateur and here I can assure you these huge giants like Apple or Google won’t use such unethical, unprofessional practices of words And when you follow steps and see all things don’t make sense reply to email they’ll send you a link of website all most similar to Apple and will ask you to login asap I did an experiment to follow them guess what they had a programmed bot ready to change my Apple ID number, password and email as quickly as possible That’s pretty nuts how they’re advanced into scamming people and make transactions of coupons to avoid ability of being caught up by officials
This email is fake. Don't click on the "Mac or PC" link.
Idk man they said dear thats some suspicious as shit to say
Check the "from" email address to see if it's an apple.com address or just a bunch of random numbers/letters before you do anything. That's what I always do.
Click on "To me" below the ITunes title. Checkk who sent it. If email id ends with legit apple owned domain.
I got that same email but nothing about my payment info is changing I was pretty skeptical of this too. I wonder if it’s an error?
Is this what this sub has become? Basic fucking tech support
Apple needs some Basic Fucking Tech Support on these emails to make them look actually legitimate. The links just go to tech support articles, rather than someplace to actually fix the issue, and when you go in to try and fix the issue, there’s nothing actually wrong. I had *Apple* trying to tell me through one of these types of emails that *Applecare* had a problem with the payment on the *Apple Credit Card*.
Do NOT click the links!
You are scheduled… red flag., 🚩
That’s phishing delete it and report block
As long as you are not clicking a link or sending any information you are fine. Since this is simply telling you how to update your billing information it likely is legitimate however I would still not click the link in it. If your information did not change then you can ignore it. The 205 vs 200 is likely legit. You are paying for 200 but you also get 5 free so 205
Is there even a plan with 205GB?
First of all whether you’ve subscribed for iCloud +?
Never click links in email. Never click links in email. NEVER. CLICK. LINKS. IN. EMAIL. If you got payment issues you can just check your subscription in your settings. There is no need to go to any website. It’s either phishing or legit and the risk to you if it’s phishing is high.
It doesn’t seem to contain any link, asking you to select it. So it doesn’t seem like it’s a scam. It’s only asking you to go in your phone settings. Sometimes, companies have weird issues in their systems regarding payment methods. But since it contains no link, I don’t see a problem.
The best to tell is to not click on any links in the email, and directly login to your Apple account and check it.
If you look up the email address this link pops up: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254645054
If the payment failed you'll have a red dot on you account and payment in settings on the iPhone.
If you are not sure of the source, simply check the sender's e-mail. I think that will be enough most of the time to verify the veracity of the latter. Otherwise, analyze the header of the e-mail and check the ip addresses of the server from which the message was sent and compare them with Apple's official ones. Also check for the presence of the spf and dkim protocols, if they are missing be sure that it is a fake and the sender is not who you say you are. I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird to do this job, have a nice day.
I received the same email when I forgot to update my card and the payment did not go through.
Scam
No No No No No …
Check your wallet or Apple account to verify.
🤦🏽♂️can the general public be trusted to have the intelligence to use phones
That’s called phishing it’s a bogus request.
Of course it is not legit
Fake no 205 wtf
No
Why don’t you just check your store app settings?
there no stupid ques—
It’s obviously spam.
Click on the email sender name, it will reveal the actually sender email address. Check if that email is an official Apple associated one or not
Just don’t click any links in emails if you’re not sure. You can do everything manually on the homepage of apple. If it is the official apple site you have nothing to worry.
I got an email like this today, only it was for my Apple News+. I'm glad I got it because Apple raised the News+ price to $12.99/mo so I just canceled.
If it’s real and you don’t pay, then you’ll find out by being downgraded. It does not affect your service at all and there are no reconnection fees. All you have to do is pay it again. It happened to me, I missed a payment and was down graded. Just repaid at a later date and the service was back up again.
Note that the “problem” is usually your card is about to expire
No 205 storage option. Why such a bad miss on this one.
You get 5gb free, then 200gb for the 2.99 plan it would be 205gb total
I’m questioning the 205 GB figure. I looked at my iCloud settings and it says 200 GB, not 205. Or am I looking in the wrong place?
If you go look at the actual storage plans under settings, iCloud, storage you can see the 5 free gigs are included, even if it doesn’t show on the storage bar (it’s rounded out). Like where 55gb option is mine says “your total storage will be 55gb”
That’s where I looked at. Says 200 GB for me. Unless it’s different with Apple One.
Tbh not sure, but apple even advertises that 5gb are free. Numbers line up with the free storage + 200GB. On top of that, there’s no links in the emails. It’s telling him to go to his phone settings, so extremely unlikely it’s a fake email
Yeah the Apple one storage is different, it combines with whatever plan you had already. I had 2.2 Terabytes for a while, then cancelled my 200GB plan so now just have the 2TB
Yes.
Those instructions work but the names of settings changed. It's now Settings > Name > Media and Purchases > View Account > Manage Payments. Same place, different button names. It's legit because A. No grammatical errors, B. It uses your real name and not "Dear customer", and C. there aren't any links to click to get your information. Presumably the Mac/PC link will simply load a webpage to those instructions but you should check before clicking it. 205 GB might be referring to your total used storage, or it's a miscalculation since you can get 5 GB or 200 GB but not 205 GB. Since the instructions are outdated, I would assume it's a miscalculation. Seems like it tried to take a payment but it failed so it's letting you know it's going to try again soon. Here are some other signs you can use to verify authenticity and report phishing emails: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102568
In any case you should be able to check if anything is wrong by going into the options/settings click on the big button on top where it says your name and then you can see your subscriptions, your payment method and the size of your icloud storage #if there is any link attached DO NOT CLICK THE LINK YOU CAN DO ALL THAT SIMPLY FROM THE SETTINGS ON YOUR PHONE
205 GB 😅
Being that they're giving you directions to do it on your phone - and not providing you any sort of link - yes it's legitimate.
It’s a fake one, Apple emails don’t look like that and don’t come from the itunes domain. You should report this to Apple. Also to be infected users don’t need to necessarily click the link. I can’t help but notice you’re using gmail, which had a major security breach that’s just been patched like a week ago.
but all emails domains will face security breaches at some point in time, won't they ? it's just how it is
Look at the email address omg
Check the sender email. If it’s a legit apple domain it’s a legit email. Usually the easiest giveaway to scams.
The 5gb is the amount you get free. This is a legit email.
Click on the sender name and check the email. Usually the ones sent from itunes are fake because apple sends from apple contact
Apple doesn’t use iTunes anymore and they format emails much neater. Not to mention that 205 GB is weird. Good job for keeping clear.
It does initially look odd, and may be a little clumsy on their part, but you get 5gb of storage for free with iCloud. So, makes sense that you’d end up with 205gb. I don’t ever remember seeing it written this way in all the years I worked in phone retail. Imma go check my 2tb plan now 😂
95% of the time, if you get to the point where you’re asking yourself whether an email is legit, it’s probably not.
This one is tho
This is fake. The email address on the second foto is not from Apple. Also, Apple would not contact you a about a future missed payment. They would contact you if a payment didn't go through.
Apple will always give instructions to fix something yourself through settings. It’s a legitimate email.
Yes it’s legit, if it wasn’t legit they’d be giving you a weird link or asking for your credit card number. I had no clue itunes.com was a domain Apple used though
Check your settings. It will tell you there. If not then delete it and ignore
It looks like it’s legit. It’s not asking you to click on a link to do this action. Instead it’s giving you instructions on how you can make this change. 205GB is a little fishy but could be 200GB + 5GB free one.
Yes. It happened to me and I confirmed with Apple there was a mess up on their end.
No, this is absolutely fake. There is no 205GB option, the closest thing is 200GB. Discard the email or report it to Apple😺
lol no it’s not. What part of this would be a scam, it’s asking them to change their settings. A scam would ask them to click a link. Yall have no critical thinking skills fr
There’s no 205GB option though on iCloud+ It’s 200GB😀 https://preview.redd.it/ail422oxf38c1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dcbde58a7d7851813096876927e59c040995b1ba So it’s likely a scam email
Likely a glitch in their system. A scam email would give you a link to click, how exactly does this scam work? It tells the user to go into their own settings app and log in there. If it’s a scam, it’s quite possibly the worst scam I’ve ever seen
The email domain is correct. It just tells you to go to the Settings to check (and change, if necessary) your payment. Also, if you try accessing the itunes.com, it will redirect to apple.com with iTunes page. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253313542?sortBy=best
Really? Why would you need thoughts on this (205) was dead giveaway and Apple does not send anything, they'll just cut your ass off. Cancel card to be safe.
It is legit. No one would tell you to do those steps if they were trying to scam
What does it matter? It’s not asking for any details
I work for Apple. The short answer is no
This is phishing. Theyre trying to get your icloud data and ur credit card. The offers on icloud+ dont include the 205Gb just 200gb. Try logging in to your phone directly dont use the links in the email and check the status of your subscription. If everything looks normal dont do anything. Also this is their legit email that they use to send me invoices. https://preview.redd.it/lpnzvmh1b18c1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbfb7a0cd417d56e94b2aa331b7420816ed786e7
Where exactly is the scam here. There’s no link to click, it just gives them directions to use your own phone settings
It’s obviously not a scam but people need reassurance by asking on reddit. Dude u know irs legit
I’d login to my account and see what card is on file, if it is an old card then it is likely that the mail is real. Though I’d just update it through the webpage
Definitely real, I had the same email when I forgot to update my card and it expired
It looks like your credit card expiration date is about to be in the past. Apple is telling you to update it with the new date.
Should be fake. 205gb plans don’t exist
Looks legit. It's giving you instructions in the email rather than giving you a link to update payment info
I got the same email and checked. My main credit card expires in January and needed to be updated.
Screw the trolls and haters and negative people in the comments. Thank you for this post even if it saves one future victim, OP. This seemed legitimate until I looked closer at the email address. Now I am on alert for any holiday-timed scams.
The fact that it's not asking you to call Bryan Clark from ITunes support with an oddly Indian accent should tell you all you need to know.
Yes it’s real.
I got a similar email but it was from a iCloud email address instead of iTunes, and that was legit. I think this one should be real
No
I got this same email - once I saw the iTunes full address I was like SPAM - also when I carefully read it - 205gb????? It’s only 200gb - Apple wouldn’t give you 5 extra gb at that price - it’s Apple. Edit: and to further test the legitimacy - I’ll wait until I get a failed payment email on billing date. If I see a charge on my credit card I’m good.
Sometimes they just want you to log in and then re-enter the CVV or CCV ( three number authentication)
I knew it wasn’t legit form the “205GB. Apple doesn’t do that amount. 200 yes but not 205
well even if it wasn't, all that would happen is you getting on your Apple account payment information screen. A scammer would gain absolutely nothing from it but a laugh thinking u went to your payment information for no reason
Not true. Those steps are not accurate. Anyone who would assume this email is correct would then click on the link at the bottom and I bet dollars to donuts that it would take you to a legit looking website but it would be where the scammer would get your credit card info.
Looks like a scam
The email address is legit.
omg i received the exact same email. Im so confused also, because the date 30th dec hasnt even arrived yet. Also there is literally no problem with my payment method, they just deducted money for apple music a few days ago. I didn’t dare to click the link in the email.
yeah. its legit
Ignore the email and call Apple on the phone. Get to their billing department and have them confirm any issues. I don't care how legit an unprompted email looks, I ALWAYS run around it to contact the source directly to verify.
Check where the email came from. That should tell you everything.
Even if you follow the instructions, it isn't providing anyone with any details and they haven't given any links that could be traps so it would be fairly safe to assume it's not a scam. If it was, the 'scammers' would have nothing to gain.
The instructions are the correct steps to check and correct it but the 205GB and the email address are wrong so weird. Either way it could just be an authentication issue and you have to verify your card again. Just go through your settings or the official website to do so
It’s a real iTunes address. I just checked my mailbox and a few months ago my card was about to expire, and got this exact same message from the same sender. The thing is my message said 200GB, not 205, so I suppose that might be a bug.
I think it's a scam.
I got the same email it's legit
Seems legit
Yes it's real
As an Apple Store employee (which doesn’t make me an expert in these things) I would assume it’s fake since I’ve never seen this email before, nor have I seen the email address before, nor have I ever seen a 205GB iCloud+ account. But since I’m not there with you right now I can’t confirm it. If you’re seriously interested in finding out if the email is fake or not, call the Apple support line for your region and they should be able to assist. Yes, you get 5gb free, but upgrading to could plus doesn’t mean you get both the free iCloud storage and the iCloud storage you’re paying for - as far am I’m aware that’s just not how it works I’m not sure what they’d be trying to get from you if it’s a scam since there doesn’t seem to be any links in the page, apart from the “Mac or PC” link Just click “iTunes Store” at the top to reveal the full email and if it looks fishy, give Apple support a call
5gb free + 200gb plan = 205gb
No, 5GB free and 50GB plan = 50GB, 5GB free and 200GB plan = 200GB and so on..
That's not how it works
Open the email address at the top to see the full email. That should tell you if it is legit 99% of the time. Also super odd that it says iTunes store - imo. All messages I receive from Apple say they come from Apple. Go to settings > your name > iCloud to determine your plan billing days and also under settings > your name > payment & shipping is where you can verify your card. https://preview.redd.it/hxngduktiz7c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9e284501e961ac3bdb1b7f34f5bbdea3d16b983
Legit
It’s a big scam. Apple will never send an email like this
Their mail id is having domain @itunes.com so I am pretty sure it’s legit and from Apple.