A new social engineering tactic is being used by cybercriminals to trick iPhone users into disabling iMessage’s built-in phishing protection, in a bid to expose them to malicious links and scams, according to BleepingComputer.
The scam exploits a security feature in iMessage that automatically disables links from unknown senders. Apple told the outlet that when users reply to these messages or add the sender to their contacts, the links become clickable – a behavior that scammers are now actively exploiting, according to the report. The deceptive messages often masquerade as notifications from trusted organizations like USPS or toll road authorities.
Scammers are apparently looking to exploit the familiar “reply STOP” or “reply NO” that often appears at the end of messages from authentic businesses or services, as there’s been a surge in SMS phishing (smishing) attacks that specifically ask recipients to reply “Y” to “activate” supposedly legitimate links.
Read more at MacRumors.com