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Account is locked

Why is my account locked? Why does apple want my Social Security Number to unlock it?


Posted on Aug 11, 2019 1:38 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 11, 2019 1:43 PM

Presumably you've received a message of some sort. This is a scam: do not interact with it in any way. Apple will never email you out of the blue (or send a text message) and will absolutely never ask for your Social Security number. Your account has not been locked, as you can check perfectly well by going to https://appleid.apple.com


You can send fraudulent emails to Apple by forwarding them as an email attachment to reportpishing@apple.com


Some general information:


Real emails from Apple always address you by name and come from the apple.com domain, not some address that happens to have 'apple' in it somewhere. If you hover the cursor over any links without clicking on them the actual URL will show as a tooltip and if it's genuine it will be to an apple.com URL. Apple will never ask you to 'verify' your address, account or details in an email and will never send you messages telling you that your account has been or is about to be locked.


If Apple ever do have to lock your account for security reasons they won't tell you: they will wait for you to find out and contact them.


If you are told that an unauthorised purchase has been made from your iTunes Store account, check it by going to your account in the Store directly. Do not follow any links in this or indeed in any unexpected email.


If you ever get an email or a pop-up message telling you a 'virus' or 'malware' has been detected on your computer, it's a scam - it's impossible to check for this remotely. Again, don't follow anything of this sort up.


If you are uncertain about an email you can post it here (copy and paste, not as an image) and we can check it - however make sure to remove your own email address if it's showing, never post that in the forums.


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 11, 2019 1:43 PM in response to christy156

Presumably you've received a message of some sort. This is a scam: do not interact with it in any way. Apple will never email you out of the blue (or send a text message) and will absolutely never ask for your Social Security number. Your account has not been locked, as you can check perfectly well by going to https://appleid.apple.com


You can send fraudulent emails to Apple by forwarding them as an email attachment to reportpishing@apple.com


Some general information:


Real emails from Apple always address you by name and come from the apple.com domain, not some address that happens to have 'apple' in it somewhere. If you hover the cursor over any links without clicking on them the actual URL will show as a tooltip and if it's genuine it will be to an apple.com URL. Apple will never ask you to 'verify' your address, account or details in an email and will never send you messages telling you that your account has been or is about to be locked.


If Apple ever do have to lock your account for security reasons they won't tell you: they will wait for you to find out and contact them.


If you are told that an unauthorised purchase has been made from your iTunes Store account, check it by going to your account in the Store directly. Do not follow any links in this or indeed in any unexpected email.


If you ever get an email or a pop-up message telling you a 'virus' or 'malware' has been detected on your computer, it's a scam - it's impossible to check for this remotely. Again, don't follow anything of this sort up.


If you are uncertain about an email you can post it here (copy and paste, not as an image) and we can check it - however make sure to remove your own email address if it's showing, never post that in the forums.


Account is locked

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