Last month, another phishing attack was launched. This time the target was Apple’s MobileMe service which provides synchronization of email, calendar and contact information on various Apple electronic data devices such as your computer, iPhone, or iPod. Subscribing members received emails that gave the appearance of having been authenticated and thus appeared as valid emails. The phishing emails attempted to scare recipients into giving up their financial credit card information by claiming that recent subscription payments had not gone through.

MobileMe users have been targeted in the past and as recently as August of last year, according to Macworld. The emails appear to come from Apple and direct users to a poorly designed facsimile of a real Apple site.

When Apple sends out official email they will include the account user information, the last digits of the user’s credit card and direct users to go to the MobileMe web site themselves. Links are not included as are done in typical phishing emails.

Email users have seen similar phishing scams which target customers of such businesses as PayPal and other online transaction service providers. You are always told something along the lines of ‘your account needs updating and if not done soon then you will lose your access privileges.’ Once you click on the link provided in the phishing email you are taken to a false site and asked to “certify” your identity by providing your credit card information. Other times you are asked to even make a payment to make up for a so-called missed payment.

You can protect yourself from fraud by always double checking your account statements and confirming previous payments. As an added precaution, you can also log in to your online transaction service provider’s web site and confirm that payments have been received by them. Use only web site addresses that you have saved and have already confirmed as belonging to the company referred to in the phishing email. Your best practice is to not click on links provided in any emails that prompt you for financial information.