Apple Approval Notice text message scam

Here we are in the new year. Jan 9, 2025, and I got this scam today on my iPhone. I almost fell for it because my credit card got jacked last week, and YESTERDAY, I updated all my info with the new credit card. So, I already have PTSD from getting my life turned upside down. I thought, GREAT, what did I do incorrectly when entering the new credit card number that made me a victim again? I was so relieved when I saw this post.

Recently got the same message 3 days in a row by text. Never hit the link or called the telephone #. The source’s name keeps changing so me marking the texts as spam is not blocking the future texts. I appreciate the help on this forum.

I got this message today, I did call the number, but became very suspicious the person was not professional. did have me look under General then the Language & Region where under Region Format Example there were two charges dated August 19, 2025, in the amts of $12,345.67 and $4567.89. Not sure how they were able to do this, not sure if my phone is now compromised.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

MrHoffman wrote:

Using the region formatting examples is a new one to me. Weird and kind of clever.

Yes, that $12,000 charge would induce panic in anybody. But the future date should be the second clue this is a scam, the term "example" being the first.

But yes, I can see my elderly F-I-L seeing that dollar figure and falling for a scam. (He is the proud owner of one automobile {auto is leased} and two home warranties). Luckly, he's and Android user.

Just got this Jan 17, 2025

Your Apple ID was used at "APPLE STORE" for $227.99. To ensure safety we hold payment for approval. If not you then contact Apple Support  +18*********559

[Edited by Moderator]

I believe this is a scam. I did not call but others say it is.

Received text message:

“Apple Approval Notice

We have noticed that your Apple iCloud id was recently used at "APPLE STORE - CA" for $143.95, paid by Apple Pay Pre Authorization. Also some suspicious sign in request and apple pay activation request detected. That looks like suspicious to us. In order to maintain the security and privacy of your account we have placed those request on hold.  If NOT you? talk to an Apple Representative. Failing may lead to auto debit and charge will not be reversed. Call +1 805366**** immediately to cancel this charge.

Billing Department :  Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support

Have a great day!”

[Edited by Moderator]

this scam is still happening I got this text message on 01/23/2025 “Apple Approval Notice

We have noticed that your Apple iCloud id was recently used at "APPLE STORE - CA" for $143.95, paid by Apple Pay Pre Authorization. Also some suspicious sign in request and apple pay activation request detected. That looks like suspicious to us. In order to maintain the security and privacy of your account we have placed those request on hold.  If NOT you? talk to an Apple Representative. Failing may lead to auto debit and charge will not be reversed. Call +1 808642**** immediately to cancel this charge.

Billing Department :  Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support

Have a great day!”

[Edited by Moderator]

I just received this today. This is a scam. I’m pretty sure.

Regular Message

Action Required: A 863.95 Apple ID transaction has been flagged. For further information and resolution, contact 8********01 at your earliest convenience.

[Edited by Moderator]

They are still sending this message in 2025. Exactly same amount of money but now they are saying APPLE STORE-CA which is closer to what my bank account actually calls the transactional organization. So they are getting better at it.

DC3715 wrote:

They are still sending this message in 2025.

Which means enough folks are still exposing their Apple Account credentials.

This is a business.

This scam has clearly been working well enough.

Why bother adding a randomly-generated number? (That’s not at all difficult, but, well, why even bother?)

When the payoff from this particular text drops, the text will get edited, or the text will get replaced with new text.

Devinalford44 wrote:

I agree, even though I am so tempted to call them and keep them on the phone for two hours and tie them up from scamming other people. I'm sure my number would get escalated on their call lists and I'd pay for the enjoyment of hassling these terrible people.

Someone has done one better: Theres an AI Chatbot pretending to be an elderly woman that keeps on messing up the instructions until they finally give up.

I received the same message. I checked my Apple Pay account and found a fraudulent charge with a different amount. It might just be a coincidence, but you should check your account anyway. But not through any information/phone number or link from the text.

qtboy wrote:

Wow, I just got it. I’m not taking any action other than deleting and reporting as junk. What I don’t get, is where and how did they get my iMessage name? Or did they?

Millions of people get spam, and scams.

Collecting and spamming phones and spamming texts and spamming messages is a business.

Spam from Messages tends to be a bit easier to deal with than does spam by SMS or RCS. Apple can better block that spam, when it gets reported. As for SMS and RCS spam, the carriers have been slow to address that mess. (There are apps that help with SMS spam, such as the Bouncer app.)

How does this work? Collect (or steal) a pile of email addresses, look for the iCloud addresses among those, and off you go with a list for the Apple-flavored scams. And if the spammer send a few million wrong scams to the wrong address, the spammer doesn't care.)

Want to know (some of the places) where your email address has been breached? Start here:

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

As for how to get a list for SMS and RCS spam, ~everybody knows every possible phone number. 😉

shawne144 wrote:

This is the text that I received twice this morning; by 2 different email servers, Gmail & Outlook

Yeah, that’s being spammed to millions of people.

As are some other scams, including the ”pervert” sextortion scam.

And yes, the spammers adjust the wording.

Lots more scams: https://reddit.com/r/scams

Pulling a previous reply forward…

Received text message:

“Apple Approval Notice

We have noticed that your Apple iCloud id

Word salad. It’s also called an “Apple Account”, formerly “Apple ID”.

The scammers haven’t caught up with the name change.

…was recently used at "APPLE STORE - CA" for $143.95, paid by Apple Pay Pre Authorization.

More word salad

Also some suspicious sign in request and apple pay activation request detected.

More word salad, typos and bad grammar and all.

That looks like suspicious to us.

Yeah, even more mis-grammatical word salad

In order to maintain the security and privacy of your account we have placed those request on hold. 

Wow, even more word salad.

If NOT you? talk to an Apple Representative.

Word salad.

When fraud is suspected, banks default to rejecting.

They’ll ask you to confirm your (blocked) purchase, not to block some suspected-fraudulent purchase.

Failing may lead to auto debit and charge will not be reversed.

Word salad, and also not how credit card billing and payment disputes work.

Call +1 805366**** immediately to cancel this charge.

Yeah, because Apple is likely to be posting a not-toll-free telephone number, and — if you searched for it — a telephone number that goes who-knows-where, but not to Apple.

Billing Department :  Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support

Hahahhahah no.

Have a great day!”

Also nope.

If this text message were from Biff’s Big Y Market and Pancake Restaurant’s Department of Fraud Prevention, I’d expect grammar and phrasing errors. Biff’s never been good at the grammars. For messages from Apple, not so much.

Now… assuming that all the above details still might not convince some folks that this message is a scam, the next stop is to contact Apple Support directly, using a telephone number that is posted at the Apple website, and ask them. Anybody can answer a phone number, and lie about who they are, too.

PS: Calling telephone numbers and SMS sending numbers and sending email addresses can all be spoofed / faked / forged, too.

PPS: for even more, see the previous pages of replies posted here.

Got this text message so evidently they’re still scamming people.. Apple Approval Notice

We have noticed that your Apple iCloud id was recently used at "APPLE STORE - CA" for $143.95, paid by Apple Pay Pre Authorization. Also some suspicious sign in request and apple pay activation request detected. That looks like suspicious to us. In order to maintain the security and privacy of your account we have placed those request on hold. Your Photos, Data, Bank Information and Cards are at risk. If NOT you? talk to an Apple Representative. Failing may lead to auto debit and charge will not be reversed. Call +18889xxxxxx immediately to cancel this charge.

Billing Department  

Have a great day!

[Edited by Moderator]