Apple introduces ‘Report Junk’ option in iCloud calendar app to fight spam

Apple’s new feature allows users to junk spam invites on the iCloud.com web app of the calendar

Apple has started rolling out a fix to its iCloud Calendar spam issue that has been plaguing users in the past few weeks – sending them calendar invites with spam links. Apple has introduced a new ‘Report Junk’ feature for the calendar page on iCloud.com, which lets you junk (and report) any spam invite and stops it from popping up as a notification on your phone or Mac later.

The feature to junk spam invites is only available on the iCloud.com web app of the calendar, but it likely to be rolled out for the native calendar apps of iOS and Mac that will let you junk the spam from there directly. To junk invites from your account, sign into your iCloud account on a web browser > open the calendar app > and the click on the event you want to junk and report. The report button will automatically appear on invitations sent by people not in your contacts list.

There was an uptick in spam invites on the Calendar App preceding the Black Friday sales in US, and sent out calendar notifications on advertisements to products like sunglasses (Ray-Ban and others) with discounts available. Reports suggest that these spam invites have been originating from Chinese email addresses.

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Scammers are exploiting the fact that iCloud allows invitations sent to emails are added to the calendar automatically and are then sent out as notifications on iOS and Mac devices connected with that account. Users are warned not to respond to such invitation (even declining them) as this will tell scammers that the account is active, and could lead in a barrage of new invitations.

Read: Apple iOS 10.2 now rolling out for iPhone, iPad: A look at the key features

There are a few ways you can use to combat this problem, if you are facing this situation. Click here to find out how.