BleepingComputer recently revealed that fraudulent method New targeting iPhone users. This method relies on what is known as social engineering, which means exploiting human vulnerabilities rather than technical vulnerabilities to achieve malicious goals, thus using psychological and social techniques to deceive people rather than directly hacking devices or systems.
Scammers are trying to trick users into turning off the built-in phishing protection feature in iMessage. The main goal of this scam is to make users more vulnerable to malicious links and various scam attempts. This comes at a time when phishing attempts targeting smartphone users in general are on the rise.
It is important for iPhone users to remain vigilant and keep all the security features that iOS provides enabled, especially phishing protection in the iMessage app, as it is the first line of defense against such fraudulent attempts.
How scammers exploit security features in messages to trap victims
The report revealed how this scam works, as scammers exploit a security feature in the Messages app that automatically disables links from unknown senders. According to Apple, when a user replies to these messages or adds the sender to their contacts, the links become clickable, and this is exactly what the scammers are exploiting.
The scammer wants you to reply to the message with anything.
Scammers are using sophisticated deception techniques, pretending to be trusted entities such as governments, associations, educational or training institutions, or Apple, for example. They exploit familiar phrases such as “Send STOP” or “Send NO” that often appear at the end of messages from legitimate companies and services. Recently, there has been a rise in phishing attacks via text messages, which ask recipients to reply with “Y” to activate links that they claim are legitimate.
The dual purpose of this trick is not only to enable previously broken links, but also to identify active phone numbers that are likely to interact with future scams. In other words, when a user responds to a scammer’s message, they reveal two things:
◉ His phone number is used on a daily basis.
◉ He is a person who tends to respond to messages from strangers.
This information is valuable to scammers, because they will put this number on a list of “easy numbers” that can be targeted in the future with more scam messages, because they know that the owner of this number is easily trustworthy and responds to their messages.
While technically savvy users may easily be able to identify these attempts as phishing, concerns center around older or less experienced users who may be more susceptible to this tactic.
The best way to protect yourself from this type of scam is to avoid responding to suspicious messages from unknown senders at all.
How to Enable Message Filtering for Extra Protection on iPhone and iPad
Another way to protect yourself from suspicious messages is to enable the message filtering feature on your iPhone or iPad. This feature sorts messages from people who aren’t in your contacts and puts them in a separate list, making it easier for you to review them in the Messages app.
To activate this feature, follow these steps:
◉ Open Settings, then go to Apps.
◉ Choose Messages.
◉ Activate the “Filter Unknown Senders” option.
Important point: It’s important to note that this feature may also filter legitimate messages, such as messages from shipping companies or your bank. So don’t automatically assume that every filtered message is a scam or untrustworthy message. You also won’t be able to open links in messages from unknown senders unless you add them to your contacts or reply to their message, which is part of iOS’s security system designed to keep you safe.
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