WARNING: iTunes phishing emails

-----Original Message-----

From: iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com [mailto:iTunesStoreSupport@apple.com]

Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 9:31 AM

To:

Subject: Re: EL : (en_US) Account Management; Follow-up: 222697715

Dear _,

Welcome to iTunes Store Customer Support. This is Manoj and I am happy to help you today.

I understand you're concerned about an email you received that looked like it might be an iTunes Store receipt. I am sure you are anxious at this time and I would be happy to share information with you.

_, a number of customers have recently reported they received a similar email. I've looked into this for you and found that neither the email nor its sender are affiliated with Apple. The email appears to be a phishing attempt, designed to trick users into visiting a website. Fortunately, the purchase indicated in the email is not a real charge. I've checked your account to be certain.

If you still have the email, please forward it to reportphishing@apple.com so that Apple can investigate further.

If the email contains links or attachments, please don't open them. Since this particular email targets Windows customers, we recommend that any customer using Windows who received this email use anti-virus and anti-malware software to help ensure that their computers are not affected.

For future reference, the following articles contain helpful information:

Identifying fraudulent "phishing" email

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4933

Identifying legitimate emails from the iTunes Store

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2075

_, I also recommend following the suggestions in this article, if you haven't already:

Apple ID: Tips for protecting the security of your account

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232

If you're not sure how to review your iTunes Store account's purchase history, just follow the steps in this article:

iTunes Store & Mac App Store: Seeing your purchase history and order numbers

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2727

I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.

I hope that the above provided information would be helpful for you. If you have any other questions for me, please reply back to this email.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Manoj

iTunes Store Customer Support

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

I work Sunday to Thursday, 07:00 AM to 04:00 PM CST.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you.

First Name :

Last Name :

Email :

Apple ID (Optional) :

Lang_Country : en_US

Product : iTunes Store

Support Subject : Account Management

Sub Issue : iTunes Store account security GCRM Case ID : 340081039 See additional info below Please tell us more about the issue:  Email received Choose the iTunes Store or App Store for your country:  United States

Details:

I received the email below regarding a purchase that I don't know about and did not make.  Is it valid or bogus?:

From:iTunes <itunes@new.itunes.com>

 

 

 

                Order Number: M1V27518911

Receipt Date: 8/15/2012

Order Total: $699.99

Billed To: Credit card

Item Number    Description         Unit Price

1              Postcard (View\Download )

  Cancel order   Not your order?Report a Problem

$699.99

Subtotal:              $699.99

Tax:        $0.00

Order Total:        $699.99

               

Please retain for your records.

Please See Below For Terms And Conditions Pertaining To This Order.

Apple Inc.

You can find the iTunes Store Terms of Sale and Sales Policies by launching your iTunes application and clicking on Terms of Sale or Sales Policies

FBI ANTI-PIRACY WARNING

UNAUTHORIZED COPYING IS PUNISHABLE UNDER FEDERAL LAW.

Answers to frequently asked questions regarding the iTunes Store can be found at http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/

Apple ID Summary •  Detailed invoice

Apple respects your privacy.

Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved

Posted via email from Don Peer

About time!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57493890-10391704/johnson-johnson-to-phase-out-potentially-harmful-chemicals-by-2015/

Posted via email from Don Peer

Government at work

Oh, great!

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service may have delivered more than $5 billion in refund checks to identity thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns for 2011, Treasury Department investigators said Thursday.

They estimate another $21 billion could make its way to ID thieves’ pockets over the next five years. The IRS is detecting far fewer fraudulent tax re­fund claims than actually occur, according to a gov­ernment audit that warned the widespread problem could undermine public trust in the U.S. tax system. Although the IRS detected about 940,000 fraudu­lent returns for last year claiming $6.5 billion in re­funds, there were potentially another 1.5 million un­detected cases of thieves seeking refunds after as­suming the identity of a dead person, child or some­one else who normally wouldn’t file a tax return.

In one example, investigators found a single ad­dress in Lansing, Mich., that was used to file 2,137 separate tax returns. The IRS issued more than $3.3 million in refunds to that address. Three ad­dresses in Florida, the epicenter of the identity theft crisis, filed more than 500 returns totaling more than $1 million in refunds for each address.

In another troubling scenario, hundreds of re­funds were deposited into the same bank account — a red flag for investigators searching for ID thieves who may be filing for refunds for multiple people. In one instance, the IRS deposited 590 refunds totaling more than $900,000 into one account.

“We found multiple reasons for the IRS’s inability to detect billions of dollars in fraud,” said J. Russell George,the Treasury Department’sinspector gener­al for tax administration. “At a time when every dol­lar counts, these results are extremely troubling.”

Topping the list of concerns is the IRS’s lack of timely access to third-party information it needs to verify returns and root out fraud.

Many Americans are struggling to pay their bills and the IRS takes pride in processing returns and is­suing refunds promptly. But taxpayers can start fil­ing their returns in mid-January, while employers and financial institutions don’t have to submit with­holding and income documents for taxpayers to the IRS until the end of March. That means the IRS often issues refunds long before it can confirm the verac­ity of what’s listed on taxpayer returns.

Thieves are also exploiting vulnerabilities in the way the IRS delivers refunds, investigators found. Of the 1.5 million undetected cases of potential fraud, 1.2 million used direct deposits, including pre­loaded debit cards. Thieves often prefer those meth­ods to a paper check, which require a physical ad­dress to receive the check and photo ID matching the taxpayer’s name to cash it.

Posted via email from Don Peer