Was this a scam or a sign of one I was in?

[Amy10223]

I have Apple TV. When I tried to log into my account on my laptop, it was asking me for a password, so I put in my reg password and it was not correct. So I ateempted to chnage it, but when I was told to put in the right phone number associated with the account, it was giving me a number, "*** *** **..* where the final two numbers I did not recognize. In other words, it was under a different phone number! So luckily I have an Iphone, and went to the settings to change my password. This was weird because I've heard that Iphones (or anything connected with them) are hard to hack into. So I changed the password and went to the Apple TV on my computer, and all is fine. But how should one protect oneself when it comes to laptops or phones, etc?

[AviatorTom]

Amy, you were both lucky and smart. When something tells you to change your password, never do it on the machine/site that's telling you to do it. Go to the actual site and do it there.

To extend this to other things, never blindly click on a link in an email or text, or one that's shown on your TV. Scammers very often make the link look legit but it's not... behind the scenes it will take you someplace where your identity will be stolen.

FYI... Apple phones are no less hackable than any other device. Apple may be a little better in screening software at the Apple Sore, compared to other online stores, so it's less likely to get compromised software on an Apple phone... but it can still be scammed, just like any other device.

[Amy10223]

Tom I was on my laptop on Apple TV when I tried logging in and couldn’t with my password. When I saw that weird phone number, the prompt was sending a code to it that I was supposed to get on my phone. so that’s what made me suspect someone had hacked into my Apple tv account. The same thing happened once on Netflix, but I fixed that with a worker from Netflix over the phone.
So that’s why I went to change my passcode on the settings for my phone. It’s scary.

[Likes2drive]

Usually it just says that the device is not recognized and just sends a text to your phone number, maybe your router or account was hacked into not the laptop but definitely sounds like a scam, I’ve had people call my phone number saying they were from Amazon and that someone purchased stuff on it but they didn’t realize I checked my account and my credit card was canceled a week earlier and I didn’t put one on the account yet so it wasn’t possible for any purchases and then they hung up

[Amy10223]

The fact that my own phone number was different than what was showing on my profile, made me very suspicious and I think it was part of someone hacking into my account.
Yes, those scammers will use companies like Amazon, Antivirus companies, and so many others. They sometimes send emails saying your account was debited for the amount of xxx dollars, for something you never bought. At the bottom of the email it will say, "Call this number if you disagree with..." So when you call that number, they will try to get you to get on your computer and create something or chnage something in your files--so that they can get access to your computer (connect it to theirs in some way) and they will also ask you to check your bank account online to make sure the account wasn't debited. That happened to me--and when I saw they wanted me to do that--I ghung up right away and even took my laptop to a place to have them check it out. Scary. It happens everywhere, too.

[Likes2drive]

Yeah it happens so often now, I get so many emails like that but I know better now but unfortunately they keep trying and get someone’s account information and steal from them. There should be a special place in hell for people like that

[jshm2]

Apple and it's devices are not difficult to hack into - it's just there is little value in doing so.

But it's probably a case of mistaken identity in your case. Was a family member trying to use your device perhaps?

[art84]

I had that happen to me and I have a ipod and get emails to change my password a lot.

[Anonymous]

Maybe all apple stuff is connected.
Apple is trash by the way.