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Was Kate Upton snared by the oldest online trick in the book?

The FBI is investigating whether the supermodel fell victim to not to an iCloud security breach, but phishing, the classic online scamming technique.

It’s gotten more sophisticated over the years, but the premise is the same: You get an email informing you there’s some sort of problem with your account.

Kate Upton and Husband
(Getty Images)

In order to fix it, of course, the helpful people contacting you will need your personal info – username, phone number, credit card, even your password.

Basically you unwittingly give the hackers all they need because they masquerade as a person or company trying to help you, and they’re well disguised.

In this case, the emails sent to celebrities might have been doctored up to look like it was coming from Apple, which backs up their info to its iCloud.

 

Only they weren’t responding to Apple if this theory is correct.

FBI investigators believe Kate Upton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jennifer Lawrence and Lea Michele were prime targets of phishing, and that it worked.

A Kate Upton topless photo was one of the first ones released Sunday when The Fappening occurred on 4Chan and Reddit, causing a full-on frenzy.

She has vowed legal action, decrying the violation of privacy.

Phishing has been going on since the early days of the web, but scammers have gotten very good at making their emails look just like the real thing.

You can probably blame/thank that for the Jennifer Lawrence nude photos … but remember. Delete those generic emails when you receive them, people.

And check out some HOT, non-hacked GIFs of Kate below!