Attackers Impersonate Apple in Likely AI-Generated Gift Card Scam
In this likely AI-generated phishing attack, cybercriminals impersonate Apple by sending an email from a spoofed address with the subject line “Urgent: Apple ID Verification Required.” The email claims there has been unusual activity on the recipient’s Apple ID and that immediate verification is necessary to secure the account. The recipient is instructed to purchase a $100 Apple Gift Card, scratch off the back to reveal the code, and reply to the email with the code, a clear photo of the card, and a picture of the receipt. The recipient is informed that this process must be completed within 24 hours to avoid suspension of their Apple ID. However, should the target fulfill this request, they will be sending gift card details to the attacker, who can then use those to make fraudulent payments. This elaborate ploy uses the pretense of account security to pressure recipients, leveraging the credibility of Apple’s brand to make the scam seem legitimate.
Older, legacy email security tools struggle to accurately identify this email as an attack because it originates from a reputable email provider, does not utilize any links, and contains no attachments. Modern AI-powered email security solutions flag that the message is coming from an unknown sender, detect the use of language associated with financial theft, and recognize that the sender’s name does not match the domain provided to correctly identify the email as an attack.
To protect against these attacks, recipients should be aware that Apple will never request payment or gift cards for account verification. Users are encouraged to report suspicious emails to Apple directly and verify any account-related notifications through Apple’s official website or app. Educating employees about the signs of phishing attacks, combined with deploying advanced email security tools, is critical to mitigating these increasingly deceptive scams.
Likely AI-generated phishing email designed to appear as security alert and verification request from Apple
How Does This Attack Bypass Email Defenses?
This email attack bypasses traditional security solutions for multiple reasons, including the following:
- Reputable Email Provider: The attacker uses a free hosting email service, which is less likely to be blacklisted and can bypass basic email filters.
- Lack of Links: The absence of links in the email body helps it avoid detection by legacy systems that typically rely on link scanning to identify phishing emails.
- Lack of Attachments: By not including any attachments, the email avoids detection by antivirus and anti-malware systems focused on attachment-based threats.
How Did Abnormal Detect This Attack?
This attack was detected using AI and ML by analyzing various factors, including the following:
- Unknown Sender Consideration: The email is recognized as coming from an unknown sender who has never communicated with the recipient. Abnormal’s platform maintains a communication history and quickly flags deviations from established sender-recipient interaction patterns.
- Financial Theft Language: The email contains language that may be attempting to steal money from the recipient, a common tactic identified by Abnormal’s content analysis and NLP algorithms to detect potential financial fraud.
- Sender Name and Domain Mismatch: The sender name does not match the sender domain, raising further suspicion during Abnormal’s analysis.
By recognizing established normal behavior and detecting these abnormal indicators, a modern email security solution has the ability to prevent this attack from reaching inboxes.
Please note the exact detection mechanism from Abnormal Security's system might include proprietary techniques and methodologies not disclosed here.