You think Apple is safe? Experts detect cyber scam

MANILA, Philippines - A newly discovered scam tricking users into visiting a fake Apple website is designed to steal Apple IDs, account information and even credit card access, a security and threat management solutions firm said.

Kaspersky Lab said its cloud-based technology has detected a daily average of 200,000 attempts to visit bogus Apple sites, luring users into revealing private data to cyber scammers.

"The increase in average detections is a marked increase compared to 2011, which averaged only 1,000 detections per day," Kaspersky said in a statement Wednesday.

Following the launch of iTunes stores in 56 countries, phishing sites received 900,000 hits from various Apple users in December 6, 2012. Apple has recently launched its iTunes store in the Philippines.

"Experts analyzed the cybercriminals’ behavior and patterns on a daily and monthly basis, noticing that fluctuations and increases in phishing attempts often coincided with large events from Apple," the statement said.

The scam, moreover, does not only create fake websites but course the scam through e-mail messages as well, it said.

Users can avoid the sites by always checking their browsers' address to check if it sits on Apple's real site. Users can also detect fraudulent emails by checking the sender's original e-mail addresses, Kaspersky added.