If you receive an email claiming to be from Apple Customer Service, and claiming that you need to “complete our validation process,” you should delete that email without opening it.

The email is nothing more than a phishing scam aimed at stealing an Apple users username, password, and other private information.

Once the phishing scam is complete the user is susceptible to financial scams, and other forms of digital attacks.

The email arrives with the subject: “Complete our validation Process.”

The actual email body reads:

“Dear Customer,
We need to ask you to complete a short and brief step to securing and validating your account information.
Click here to complete validation

Failure to complete our validation process will result in a suspension of your Apple ID.

We take every step needed to automatically validate our users, unfortunately in your case we were unable to. The process only takes a couple of minutes and will make sure there is no interruption to your account.
Wondering why you got this email?

This email was sent automatically during routine security checks. We are not completely satisfied with your account information and require you to update your account to continue using our services uninterrupted.
For more information, see our FAQ.

Thanks,
Apple Customer Service”

Users who submit the requested form are redirected to the genuine Apple.com website, giving them a false sense of security.

To avoid these type of scams, it is important to remember that no respectable company will send out validation emails. If you use a certain app validation may come in the form of an in-app message, but never from an email request.

If you ever feel that an email phishing scam is being delivered, you can also call the company to ask for further verification.