So you think iCloud locked phones are worthless without the owner’s passcode? Hackers want you to think again as they have discovered a really clever way to break into such phones.
To go past the activation lock, hackers are actually phishing and scamming Apple Store employees. They are taking the advantage of all iCloud locked iPhones which were returned to the carrier as a part of upgrading phone plans.
Of course, not all such iPhones are stolen and there is a huge market of iCloud locked phones out there around the world too. When a customer decides to buy the newest iPhone from a carrier, they return back the previous one and companies ask the owners to disable the iCloud lock. When owners don’t do that, these iCloud locked phones get sold in bulk.
This gives a chance to all the black market (mostly dark web) re-sellers to use iCloud phishing kits, which have tools to fool the original owner of the locked iPhone so that they could give the password of their Apple ID with their own will.
In case, if this doesn’t work, they then trick the retail employees at Apple with a fake receipt because if the owner of an iPhone has forgotten its iCloud ID information, then Apple helps out the customer only if they have the original receipt, which hackers create later.
Other authentic ways to use an iCloud locked iPhone include replacing the CPU from the Logic Board and reprogramming it as a “new” device, which is quite rare as it requires a highly skilled labor like the ones in Asian refurbishing labs and the hackers also need a “clean” phone identification number called an IMEI.
The next time when you decide to upgrade your phone plan with a carrier, make sure you follow their guidelines for your own protection.
Read next: List of High and Low Radiation Emitting Smartphones Is Out, Samsung, Google and Apple Have a Huge Presence in It!
To go past the activation lock, hackers are actually phishing and scamming Apple Store employees. They are taking the advantage of all iCloud locked iPhones which were returned to the carrier as a part of upgrading phone plans.
Of course, not all such iPhones are stolen and there is a huge market of iCloud locked phones out there around the world too. When a customer decides to buy the newest iPhone from a carrier, they return back the previous one and companies ask the owners to disable the iCloud lock. When owners don’t do that, these iCloud locked phones get sold in bulk.
This gives a chance to all the black market (mostly dark web) re-sellers to use iCloud phishing kits, which have tools to fool the original owner of the locked iPhone so that they could give the password of their Apple ID with their own will.
Related: Safari Will No Longer Have a Do Not Track OptionHackers involved here then create special text messages which would look like as if they are from Apple. This would even have a fake location of where the person's phone has been found via Find My iPhone activation.
In case, if this doesn’t work, they then trick the retail employees at Apple with a fake receipt because if the owner of an iPhone has forgotten its iCloud ID information, then Apple helps out the customer only if they have the original receipt, which hackers create later.
Other authentic ways to use an iCloud locked iPhone include replacing the CPU from the Logic Board and reprogramming it as a “new” device, which is quite rare as it requires a highly skilled labor like the ones in Asian refurbishing labs and the hackers also need a “clean” phone identification number called an IMEI.
The next time when you decide to upgrade your phone plan with a carrier, make sure you follow their guidelines for your own protection.
Read next: List of High and Low Radiation Emitting Smartphones Is Out, Samsung, Google and Apple Have a Huge Presence in It!
