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Over the course of the last week, many iCloud users have been the target of spam that's delivered in the form of an unsolicited Calendar event invitation, and now Apple is working on a way to stop it.

In a statement given to iMore's Rene Ritchie, an Apple spokesperson said the company working to block spam invites.
We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.
iCloud calendar spam isn't new, but there's been a serious uptick in calendar spam since last week. Because iCloud calendar invites are sent to an iCloud calendar automatically by default and there's no easy way to ignore them, there's no clear way to stop the spam.

icloudcalendarspam.jpg
Image via OS X Daily​

Declining, accepting, or choosing "Maybe" on an incoming iCloud invite lets spammers know an iCloud email address is valid, so until Apple can put a stop to the spam, there are two fixes. First, by logging in to iCloud via a web browser and accessing the Calendar settings (Click the cog, go to Preferences, then choose Advanced), you can choose to receive all event invitations as email. Emails can be more easily ignored and deleted.

Second, you can create a new Calendar, name it Spam, move the spam invitation to the Spam calendar, and then delete the Calendar entirely. This method does not inform spammers that an event has been declined and does not verify an iCloud account's validity. For more detailed instructions, make sure to check out our how to.

Both iOS users that use the default Calendar app and those who use third-party calendar apps like Fantastical are affected by the spam issue, which appears to be fairly widespread.

Article Link: Apple Working to Put a Stop to iCloud Calendar Spam
 
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gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
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Hey, you look like you need some Ray-Bans so I will add a calendar invite to remind you to pick them up. I have received 3 just in the last week. I took the advice to add a bogus calendar, add the invite to that, then delete the calendar. Point is to remove the invite without sending a reply.
 

jerry16

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2016
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across the universe
so until Apple can put a stop to the spam, there are two fixes. First, by logging in to iCloud via a web browser and accessing the Calendar settings (Click the cog, go to Preferences, then choose Advanced), you can choose to receive all event invitations as email. Emails can be more easily ignored and deleted.

That iCloud.com option is lame; why shouldn't I be able to accept and decline events in my calendar app because spammers are taking advantage? Hard to call that a "fix".. more like a work around. Glad to hear Apple is working on something though; a report spam or delete with no response option would be ideal.
 
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macfanjoe

macrumors member
Jun 14, 2010
44
7
I don't really understand how to move a invitation to a new calendar before I accept the invitation? At least on a Mac?
 

jyen

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2012
105
126
Second, you can create a new Calendar, name it Spam, move the spam invitation to the Spam calendar, and then delete the Calendar entirely. This method does not inform spammers that an event has been declined and does not verify an iCloud account's validity.

Hey, that's a great way to get out of that work meeting I don't want to go to. "What meeting invite? Sorry, I don't think I got it."
 

jscooper22

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2013
255
612
Syracuse, NY
My wife got this the other night and I was able to kill it with the move to calendar & delete calendar method. Didn't even realize it came through her icloud account. Then wondered why it hadn't happened sooner and more spammers don't do this.
 

hiddenmarkov

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2014
685
492
Japan
this spam assumes calendaring notification works, guess that assumption worked out for them with some. Of late I get a few scenarios

My phone desyncs so calendar entries made on ipad don't update to it
My ipad desyncs, doesn't get new phone entries.
Or they both desync.

My other visible clue is my bookmarks vanish. Bookmark list for me extensive..it being empty jumps right off the screen sadly. All this started in iOS 10 so I guess to resolve this, install that.

Inb4 reboot and/or turn off icloud then turn on again fixes this. well versed in this, I do it at least once a week per device.
 

Sandybox

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2016
145
262
So, when only a few had problems, that's fine. Now it's news , oh we are so concerned and will fix it. Apology not accepted Apple and don't pretend you were not aware of this a long time ago. If you claim you didn't know-you are incompetent. If you claim you did - you were allowing customers to be spammed. Which answer do you prefer?
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
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So, when only a few had problems, that's fine. Now it's news , oh we are so concerned and will fix it. Apology not accepted Apple and don't pretend you were not aware of this a long time ago. If you claim you didn't know-you are incompetent. If you claim you did - you were allowing customers to be spammed. Which answer do you prefer?
Doesn't seem like this really became an issue until fairly recently.
 

Cineplex

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2016
741
2,012
What does Tim have to do with spammers spamming, which happens to basically any service out there and has been around for decades at this point?
He is the captain of the ship, so he is responsible for its lousy filter. I get tons of things everyday that a simple filter could catch. Apple just isn't into high grade spam filtering...and it's because Tim is too busy saving the world from political correctness to see an issue with a core service that isn't a watchband.
 
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