Accidentally opened suspicious attachment aaaarrrgh!

[Finvarra]

I was checking my junk folder because emails from a friend get put there even though she is in my contacts list, sure enough there was an email there. I tapped Edit to move it to my Inbox, which it did, and as it was moved, the next junk mail below was revealed, purporting to be from HSBC and with a a little grey box attachment, the usual thing, your card has been stopped etc. my finger accidentally clipped the box, which changed colour, so I can only assume something has happened. Have I introduced a virus or something awful to my ipad? I have never opened an attachment or clicked an unknown email before in my life, so I am really worried now. If it was Windows, I could run a virus check with the antivirus software but as Apple doesn't have it I don,t know what to do. I have deleted the email and emptied the junk folder, but is it too late?

Please advise me what to do. I feel sick.
Thanks

 

[dhewson777]

Generally those sorts of emails are phishing, not anything like a virus or malware. Their goal is to trick you into entering your banking details for fraudulent uses.

Clicking the link on the email most likely was to take you to a fake site to collect those details. If you didn't get to the site and did not enter any private details, then I believe you are fine.

BTW, it is unlikely that anything nefarious could launch from an email on an iPad as Apple have it locked down fairly well, hence why no anti-virus and such in the App Store.

 

[Finvarra]

Thank you so much, I have had a sleepless night worrying about it. I switched to Apple from Windows a year ago, love it, and was pleased not to have to use Norton or McAfee etc.

The ipad screen is so sensitive, it's easy for your finger to just clip something in a millisecond. I shall be ultra ultra careful in future.

Thanks again