Received a suspicious Apple ID security notice text message

Anyone else receive this text?

🔐 Security Notice — Review Apple ID Wallet Activity




Dear Customer,




A recent event linked to your Apple ID involving Apple Pay has triggered our security protections. To help keep your account safe, please review the activity overview below.




Activity Summary:


• Amount Involved: $143.95


• Location: California Apple Store


• Attempted Action: Apple Pay configuration attempt




If you did not authorize this action, immediately contact Apple Support at ************




Support Resources:


📞 Billing Helpline: ************


🌐 Billing Portal: Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support




Apple will not ask for complete card numbers, verification codes, or passwords through unsolicited communications. Suspicious emails or messages should be forwarded to reportphishing@apple.com.




Sincerely,


Apple ID & Billing Risk Management Team


Apple Inc. © 2025



[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Nov 20, 2025 7:56 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 20, 2025 8:03 AM

That is a common scam, and still with the same longstanding errors including “Apple ID” (and not “Apple Account”, as Apple now refers to it), and a completely false claim about how fraud detection works. (Fraud detection blocks the transaction entirely until it is released by the account holder. With no override to release the transaction, no purchase. There's no timer with fraud detection, and that countdown is part of the scam to try to get the recipient to act.)


Versions of this scam will be going for the foreseeable future, unfortunately.


More info on recognizing this and some other common scams is here:


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 20, 2025 8:03 AM in response to Clarification

That is a common scam, and still with the same longstanding errors including “Apple ID” (and not “Apple Account”, as Apple now refers to it), and a completely false claim about how fraud detection works. (Fraud detection blocks the transaction entirely until it is released by the account holder. With no override to release the transaction, no purchase. There's no timer with fraud detection, and that countdown is part of the scam to try to get the recipient to act.)


Versions of this scam will be going for the foreseeable future, unfortunately.


More info on recognizing this and some other common scams is here:


Nov 20, 2025 7:38 PM in response to bmacfromnodak

bmacfromnodak wrote:

So it the "trick" that they use a real URL, but the phone number is fake? I got the same one and it is a legit URL, but when I googled the 833-***-***2 phone number, it doesn't show up.

[Edited by Moderator]


If you are at all unsure, contact the appropriate payment provider. And if you try to do that here, you’ll encounter the first issue. No payment card is listed. Only a potentially-suspect phone number.


That the whole message is sketchy, with various issues including:

  • The payment transaction and fraud detection are managed by your bank, and by the payment card network, and Apple Pay facilities the transaction but Apple Pay does not permit or deny transactions
  • No payment card info or identity. No last 4 digits. Again, Apple Pay itself isn’t a payment card. It is a means to use a payment card.
  • Purported fraud detection handling is completely wrong.
  • “Dear customer” and no name.
  • ”Apple ID” and not “Apple Account”
  • There is no countdown with a suspected fraudulent and blocked transaction — countdowns and deadlines are common features of scams — as the transaction is blocked until and unless you contact and confirm the validity of the transaction with your bank.
  • etc.


In aggregate, there are seemingly a few issues here.


For payment-related info and direct confirmation, look at the phone numbers on the back of your (physical) payment card or use the Get Card Info option in the Apple Wallet app to call or website.


When confirming contact info with your payment card provider, Google search is often filled with rubbish and scams and even malware, so be as skeptical about the results of Google web searches as you should be with any AI-generated text.


Again, more info on recognizing this and some other common scams is here:


Received a suspicious Apple ID security notice text message

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