Tricks of a gang of thieves
The thieves claim to have access to “all iPhone models” from the iPhone 5 to the very latest. They were then also given access to bank accounts. They used several tricks, which they would have revealed to the Brazilian police. Whether it is a bluff or whether it really works is difficult to determine. The thieves will undoubtedly not have revealed all their tricks, so as not to make others wiser. Those looking for a step-by-step plan for a criminal career should look for that information elsewhere, because it can be found in the article of the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paolo.
One of the tricks was to put the SIM card from a stolen device into another iPhone. They then searched the Internet for the user's email address. Some people post this on social media and also use the email address as an Apple ID. The thieves then used this to gain access to victims' bank accounts.
This is a Brazilian gang, but the trick can of course also be applied in other countries. The gang was mainly active at the end of 2020 and has since been rolled up. They clarified to the police that they could “hack any iPhone” and they also explained how they did it. Especially via Facebook and Instagram it turned out to be quite possible to find out which e-mail address was linked to a certain telephone number.
When looking for the e-mail address used for backups, particular attention was paid to e-mail addresses with a suitable extension, such as @gmail.com. The criminals were apparently able to restore new iPhones from an iCloud backup and then searched apps such as Notes or the iCloud Keychain for mobile banking credentials.
We don't know if it really is that easy. But it is wise to check on the basis of this information whether your security measures are still sufficient and whether you may have to remove your phone number from Facebook. As an Apple ID, it is also best to choose an email address that you do not use for other applications. If you are smart, you can also set a different SIM PIN.
The phones themselves were stolen by young men on bicycles, snatching them from pedestrians. They immediately switched the iPhone to camera mode to prevent the device from being locked. They also turned on airplane mode so that the aircraft could not be tracked. In this way it was possible in a simple way to bypass the standard security measures such as Touch ID and the access code.
If you want to know more, you can browse the Brazilian source article for more details.
If you want point-by-point advice, we have a few suggestions here:
- < li>Set a hard-to-guess PIN for your SIM card
- Don't carelessly make calls or use the internet in public, where someone can just pull your iPhone out of your hand
- Leave your iPhone don't swing it somewhere where it can be easily grabbed
- Store your iPhone in places you don't trust it
- Share as little personal information as possible such as phone numbers and email addresses on the internet< /li>
- Use two-factor authentication
Revision history:
- 2021 – Jul 08, 6:55 PM: Article slightly rewritten with more emphasis on what you can do about it. A step-by-step plan to commit iPhone theft yourself