Posted on 02/25/2026 12:18:48 AM PST by Libloather
Your iPhone calendar used to remind you about dentist appointments and dinner reservations.
Now? It might be screaming that you’ve “won a prize” — or worse, that your device is infected and your bank account is toast.
Welcome to the latest digital headache: a calendar con that’s turning Apple users’ schedules into spam central, per Newsweek.
Cybercrooks have figured out a sneaky way to blast iPhones and iPads with bogus alerts — no shady app download required.
Instead of slipping malware onto your device, scammers trick users into unknowingly subscribing to rogue calendars. Once you’re in, they’ve got a direct line to your lock screen.
The result? A flood of fake event invites and notifications urging you to click urgent “security warnings,” claim mystery rewards, or call sketchy phone numbers.
It’s less “Meeting at 3 p.m.” and more “Your iPhone has been compromised!”
The kicker: the alerts can look oddly official. That’s because calendar subscriptions don’t pass through the App Store’s usual security checkpoints.
As one Reddit user recently wrote about their dilemma: “All of the sudden, my calendar app has been doing these random events which I cannot remove or disable. New ones replace them over time.”
While you may think Apple is tapping you on the shoulder, it’s actually a scammer sliding into your schedule.
Security pros say the trap is often sprung with a single careless click — usually on a dodgy pop-up or spammy link.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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I’ve seen those on my iPad but ignore them.
It’s pretty obvious they’re scams.
I have been getting these for a long time.
I once got a VERY official-looking email from my bank, with logo and bottom fine print, stating my account had gone to zero. ‘Click here’. BP went up for a few seconds as I hit the real website. Scam.
I just assume that everything I get in email or cell phone text, is a scam, until I can prove otherwise.
The only calendar app I have on my phone is the one that came with it. So far, no issues.
Agreed. The only messages that I know are authentic are the ones coming from lonely Ukrainian women anxious to meet me.
😂 Philippine women for me. 🤪
All I get is women from Detroit
Yes, especially the ones that say “your Apple account made a purchase in New York for $1423.56. We blocked the purchase. Click here to confirm.”
EC
“scammers trick users into unknowingly subscribing to rogue calendars.”
People purposefully subscribe to the scams
Frequently, sometimes a dozen a day, I receive “cloud” warnings that all my data and photos will be deleted unless I take steps to protect it. And others that say my antivirus is expiring and I’ll be unprotected unless I do the same.
I block the senders, but they have millions of address combos to keep trying.
As long as it’s not Dearborn.
Never click.
I just wish I could remove the islamic dates from any calendars I have.
These scams make you miss the Nigerian prince ones. At least they had a moderately entertaining story.
bump
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