Speaking to Vietnam News Agency, the Việt Nam National Cyber Security Technology Corporation's technical director Vũ Ngọc Sơn said that this false alert appeared around the same time Apple warned iPhone users in more than 92 countries of ‘mercenary spyware’.

However, the security threat in Apple’s announcement was linked to system loopholes that have been raising alerts in the past such as the Pegasus spyware that attacks users through iMessage, said Sơn.

The verification alert has prompted many users to post on social media to warn others to click on ‘Để sau’ (Not now) instead of ‘Cài đặt’ (Settings), or their data and bank accounts will be hacked. 

The chain posting has led to confusion among the public. 

Cybersecurity experts said that no attack linked to the ‘Apple ID verification’ has been reported and recommended users to fact-check before sharing information. 

According to Trần Quang Hưng, deputy director of the Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications, this notification could be due to un-reset second-hand devices, which might still have applications downloaded with the Apple ID accounts of the previous users.

This issue has also been reported in cases where iPhone users share the same paid applications, he said. 

In that situation, users simply need to sign in with the payer’s account to download the application, which might ask for verification after updates and poses no risk, he added. — VNS