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Cybercriminals—spammers, to be specific—typically hide their malicious intent behind well-known company names. Just recently, TrendLabs engineers encountered a spammed message claiming to be from the Apple Store.

The email message encouraged users to view their latest status updates and to make changes to their online Apple Store orders. This new spam run is probably related to the imminent arrival of the iPad, which is slated to start hitting the U.S. market on April 3.

The spam samples directed users to websites that are not even related to the Apple Store, making these emails highly suspicious. Further investigation shows that the URLs in the messages were found to be connected to a recently created domain that is involved in selling male enhancers such as Viagra and Cialis.

The following are just some of the previous blog entries related to Apple and its products:

• iPad Giveaway Gives Users’ Identities Away
• Yet Another Phish but from Apple Store

As always, Trend Micro advises users to be extra careful when opening email messages they receive because cybercriminals will always attempt to lure possible victims through legitimate-looking spam.

Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ protects product users from this attack by preventing the spammed messages from reaching users’ inboxes via the email reputation service and by blocking access to malicious sites and domains via the Web reputation service.

Non-Trend Micro product users can also stay protected from similar bogus email messages by using eMail ID, which uses a two-step verification process to help users quickly find legitimate messages.