Watch out - that Macbook M4 Pro offer could be a scam

Rumors and leaks around Apple products are nothing new, but following a recent unboxing video that claims to feature the leaked MacBook Pro M4, there has been a huge increase in ‘sellers’ promising the new MacBook before its official launch - if they've got one, they can get more, right?

Well, common sense says no, and so do researchers at Kaspersky. The hype around the new leaked product has been predictably followed by an influx of fraudulent activity, with scammers exploiting the excitement by offering fake product testing programs and pre-sale items.

Kaspersky identified a number of scams looking to lure victims in through emails with an exclusive offer to test the unreleased product, which is set to launch in November 2024.

A pinch of salt

In the email, the victim is sent a link that redirects them to a fake storefront.

From there, the victim fills out a form full of sensitive information and credit card details to receive the 'exclusive price'. Regardless of the leak's legitimacy, we can say with pretty high certainty that the offer of a free MacBook from an unauthorized source for ‘testing’ is fake.

“The recently released video featuring an unreleased laptop has created false expectations, leading people to believe that if an influencer managed to get their hands on the device, it might be available for regular users too.” said Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center, Russia, at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT).

“Scammers are quick to capitalize on trends” he commented, "Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

This of course exposes victims not just to the initial credit card theft, but also to the threat of identity theft from the compromised material which will probably have been sold on the dark web by the scammers.

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