{"id":4642,"date":"2026-09-24T02:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T02:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/?p=4642"},"modified":"2026-09-24T02:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T02:01:17","slug":"cheap-iphone-deal-warning-over-scam-sites-selling-latest-apple-mobiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/cheap-iphone-deal-warning-over-scam-sites-selling-latest-apple-mobiles\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cheap iPhone deal\u2019: warning over scam sites selling latest Apple mobiles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Criminals exploit demand for iPhone 18 Pro<\/a><\/strong> and foldable Duo<\/a><\/strong> to trick people eager to get their hands on one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apple<\/a><\/strong> has just launched a range of new iPhones<\/a><\/strong>, including a foldable handset, just as you decide it is time to replace your own ageing mobile. But you balk at the \u00a31,199 price tag for the cheapest of the new options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searching online for a better price with the words \u201ccheap\u201d, \u201ciPhone<\/a><\/strong>\u201d and \u201cdeal\u201d, you come across a website which offers an iPhone 18 Pro<\/a><\/strong> for a couple of hundred pounds less than the Apple site. You pay for the new phone via a bank transfer and wait for it to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the website is a fraud – one of hundreds set up in the days before the new Apple phones<\/a><\/strong> were announced \u2013 and is designed to scam money out of people eager to get their hands on one of the new handsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo<\/a><\/strong>, the company\u2019s first foldable phone, on Wednesday, as well as two new iPhone 18 Pro models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, criminals were building up networks of fake sites. Security researchers found a large spike in the number of scam sites registered with \u201cApple<\/a><\/strong>\u201d and \u201ciPhone<\/a><\/strong>\u201d, among other keywords, in their domain names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is expected that the number will proliferate into the hundreds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandre Fran\u00e7ois, who investigates scams for the intelligence company WhoisXML API, says the days before and after the announcement of the phones<\/a><\/strong> typically see a glut of domain names being registered by criminals. Some are then developed into phishing sites in order to dupe people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome are flagged as dangerous by dozens of security engines, yet they are still absent from the blocklists that browsers and security tools<\/a><\/strong> rely on, so for most people nothing stops the page from loading,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn each of the last four iPhone launches<\/a><\/strong>, domain registrations referencing the new model peaked on \u2018keynote day\u2019 \u2013 the launch day itself: more than 200 new domains within 24 hours, against zero or one on a normal day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it looks like<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The domain names will often include words such as \u201cApple<\/a><\/strong>\u201d and \u201ciPhone 18<\/a><\/strong>\u201d. The content of a developed site will look convincingly realistic as fraudsters frequently use AI to mimic genuine retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One site found by Fran\u00e7ois, an iPhone Pro Max<\/a><\/strong>, in three different colours, was advertised with claims of an \u201call-day battery\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release of technical specifications following the launch allows fraudsters to build more convincing websites. Fran\u00e7ois says it then \u201cbecomes much easier to convince people that what they are looking at is a real iPhone<\/a><\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sites may also claim to offer early access to the devices, as well as cheaper prices. The new iPhone 18 Pro<\/a><\/strong> starts at \u00a31,199 officially, while the 18 Pro Max at \u00a31,299, so expect the scam sites to quote prices substantially lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with many scams, fraudsters may give people a deadline to buy \u2013 such as a few hours \u2013 to encourage them to abandon caution in a bid to land a bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sites will often only take payment via bank transfer to avoid giving people the protections available when you pay with a debit and credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember what is on sale. So far, the iPhone Duo<\/a><\/strong> and the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have been announced \u2013 but not the standard iPhone 18. Pages which claim to be selling it now or taking deposits are fakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fran\u00e7ois says Apple<\/a><\/strong> does not operate lotteries and does not recruit people to test phones<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legitimate websites will offer consumers a variety of ways to pay \u2013 debit and credit cards among them. Some fraudulent sites will insist payment is made using cryptocurrency, which should act as an immediate red flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple<\/a><\/strong> says its Safari browser has a warning for fraudulent websites that alerts users to phishing or malware sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find you have given out your financial details, contact your bank and Report Fraud<\/a><\/strong>. And then change your passwords.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Criminals exploit demand for iPhone 18 Pro and foldable Duo to trick people eager to get their hands on one Apple has just launched a range of new iPhones, including a foldable handset, just as you decide it is time to replace your own ageing mobile. But you balk at the \u00a31,199 price tag for … Continue reading “\u2018Cheap iPhone deal\u2019: warning over scam sites selling latest Apple mobiles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[58,2515,2517,2518,2441,2514,2513,2516,2433],"class_list":["post-4642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apple","tag-consumer-affairs","tag-cybercrime","tag-features","tag-iphone","tag-money","tag-scam-watch","tag-scams","tag-smartphones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4644,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/4644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tech-battery.com\/batteriesblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}