Get a bunch of guys who look like this and go to the address:
Joke btw not worth risking your self for a gadget and second these particular guys didn't have and didn't know about smartphones.
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So my iPhone was stolen today......
- Thread starter Ifti
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Joke btw not worth risking your self for a gadget and second these particular guys didn't have and didn't know about smartphones.
Last known location from last night goes to one of these houses......right opposite a job center! Typical!
Actually I may call the police and let them know.......
Actually I may call the police and let them know.......
If you Apple ID account keeps getting locked then I can only assume the thief is trying to get into your iphone but is be thwarted by the password which is locking the account due to too many incorrect tries. The problem is, the iphone stays remembering the owners Apple ID and thus keeps asking for the password. So in theory, the thief can keep on trying the password for days, weeks, months on end, keep putting in the wrong password which causes your account to become locked. Your account could keep getting locked time and time again until the thief decides they've had enough.
Thank you - I also have 2FA enabled regardless, so as long as they cannot get in I'm happy to continue unlocking my account! I'm assuming its because the iPhone is in lost mode that they need to enter a password to unlock it. Nevertheless, I did set it to erase, so not sure why it's not erasing if it is coming online for them to attempt the password?.....
Last known location from last night goes to one of these houses......right opposite a job center! Typical!
Actually I may call the police and let them know.......
Called the police. Updated them on the above.
They said the location is approximate so they cant knock on a door etc, but will investigate the area - sometimes there is a phone repair shop nearby who could have it etc. Also they co-ordinate with police in the area to see if they have any other reports leading back to the same location etc.
I know its a lost cause and I'm not expecting the handset back at all - it would need to go to the insurer even if it did - I'm just concerned about my data and hope the phone being locked is going to hold up!
Something else to consider: if you use a physical SIM then put a PIN number on it (with a different code to the phone).
On power up the SIM will need the code entering before it can be used and this should stop them using the SIM in another phone to, for example, intercept 2FA codes sent via SMS before you have the chance to block it with your service provider.
We have this on both my and my wife’s phones as an extra layer of security. It is rarely an inconvenience as the phones hardly ever need rebooting these days.
On power up the SIM will need the code entering before it can be used and this should stop them using the SIM in another phone to, for example, intercept 2FA codes sent via SMS before you have the chance to block it with your service provider.
We have this on both my and my wife’s phones as an extra layer of security. It is rarely an inconvenience as the phones hardly ever need rebooting these days.
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Sorry to hear that. East London, UK..I’ll bet it was a doctor or engineer.
This might be available to only people in the UK but here is an article about a mobile phone thief being caught. According to the report he snatched 25 phones out of peoples hands in just 1 hr.
metro.co.uk
I wonder if this is the guy that took the OP's phone.
Thief had unbelievable number of mobiles on him when police rammed his bike
Sonny Stringer, 28, and an unknown accomplice targeted commuters and tourists in central London on March 26.
metro.co.uk
I wonder if this is the guy that took the OP's phone.
City of London: Islington man admits snatching 24 phones in an hour
Sonny Stringer rode an electric motorbike at speeds up to 50mph to evade officers, say police.
www.bbc.co.uk
Seems like the police can do something if they are alerted quickly enough.... no help if your phone is the one getting stolen though
You won't necessarily know if the erase worked, but it doesn't matter. What might be happening is that the iPhone is offline but pings off other iPhones through Find My, it even does that when it's completely turned off (because it's never actually completely off unless the battery has run out to the point it cannot power any internals anymore...). That means it can be tracked in Find My but it won't erase as it cannot receive the erase command when offline. It will still track though.
You should in the Face ID and passcode section enable the theft protection, it will prevent making major changes for 60 minutes, so if the thieves had access to the phone they still couldn't change the Apple ID or log out the iPhone, as they'd have to wait for 60 minutes giving you a chance to lock it remotely.
You should in the Face ID and passcode section enable the theft protection, it will prevent making major changes for 60 minutes, so if the thieves had access to the phone they still couldn't change the Apple ID or log out the iPhone, as they'd have to wait for 60 minutes giving you a chance to lock it remotely.
Any screenshot or info what it said exactly? This should not happen but without details I can't say why that came up.
Sorry to hear but glad you were not hurt during the robbery. London is all over the news for this sort of thing and it really puts me off going there. I wouldn’t be bothered about my iPhone being nicked as such but it’s the inconvenience of it more than anything. The phone is essentially useless to the thieves unless they sell it for parts or rip someone off with it. I never have bank cards with my phone but that raises a good point for those that have those MagSafe wallets etc. I think setting the iPhone to lost and erase is all you can really do tbh.
When I was 16 I was grabbed by a mugger and stupidly I punched him hard in the nose and ran. That was back in 1998 and these days I would just hand my stuff over to lessen the risk if I was ever in a confrontation. The good thing for you is they just grabbed it and made off, rather than tried to threaten you at least.
This might be available to only people in the UK but here is an article about a mobile phone thief being caught. According to the report he snatched 25 phones out of peoples hands in just 1 hr.
Thief had unbelievable number of mobiles on him when police rammed his bike
Sonny Stringer, 28, and an unknown accomplice targeted commuters and tourists in central London on March 26.
I wonder if this is the guy that took the OP's phone.
Not me Im afraid. I wasn't near their area and in my case the bikes were completely black. Still two of them though so they seem to work in pairs.
Glad this scumbag was caught though.
Thank you for the info.
Next time it happens I'll take a screenshot, but it literally says my account is locked and I need to unlock it. It then takes me through a couple of additional steps, including 2FA and unlocks after which I can use it normally.
Western Europe specifically, yes. The big cities are especially places where you have to be paranoid that an engineer or rocket scientist steals your stuff.
It’s not just the cities where gangs go around on electric bikes and scooters, although the theft and violence seems to be more in London and other major cities. In the small town where I live there are teenagers dressed all in black on electric bikes riding around wearing full face balaclavas and the police just admit they can’t catch them. They are committing criminal damage and riding down pavements at 50mph+. You find thieves etc will use electric scooters and bikes because it enables them to be quiet and get away quickly, much like happened to the OP. It’s only a matter of time before it’s more common in the suburbs and smaller towns.
Sorry to hear this OP, terrible incident and sadly I feel like I'm reading more and more of these things happening.
I see I'm not the only one with concerns about 2FA — aside from getting the physical keys, are there any other options for dealing with that, if we lose access to SMS for receiving codes?
I see I'm not the only one with concerns about 2FA — aside from getting the physical keys, are there any other options for dealing with that, if we lose access to SMS for receiving codes?
This reminds me of something else I read that is apparently happening more often in London - people forcing, at knifepoint, victims to open all their banking apps and transferring the money to them. There’s the fraud procedure with the banks after, but it prompted me to put my main banking apps only on my iPad. My iPhone has my day-to-day banking apps with inconsequential amounts of money, and credit card apps which can’t send money.
I have really thought about getting a third item like a Yubikey for two-factor authentication and keeping it locked in my safe. But the problem with that too is if someone steals my safe (which is possible) and break it open, they have full access to my second-factor device, the Yubikey, no? My typical 2FA is my phone. Am I missing something?
Wow man it was hurt to read until AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss. God bless whoever employee had this idea.
Photos on iCloud I assume?
Hope you didn't lose any data and, the most important, it was a theft without violence and you are good. That's what matters. ✌️
Wow man it was hurt to read until AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss. God bless whoever employee had this idea.
Photos on iCloud I assume?
Hope you didn't lose any data and, the most important, it was a theft without violence and you are good. That's what matters.
To be fair most people who rent and own their own homes have insurance cover for phones when they are stolen. Even if they didn’t have AppleCare, it probably would have been sorted out through insurance anyway.
Yes luckily the iPhone backed up to iCloud early on the same morning.
All photos etc are also on iCloud, so I didn't actually lose any data - just the inconvenience of going through it all and not having any phone for 2 days, as well as no access to banking (because of 2FA sending texts to a line I didn't have).
All good now though!
Thanks
True, although with the state of insurance and its rising prices nowadays, I'd rather not put a claim on the insurance since I'd most likely pay for it in future years with higher premiums! Also, with AppleCare I had a replacement in 2 days. I'm sure with the home insurance it would have taken much longer!
Yes - the banking apps just use a text. So it really wa sjust the replacement sim I needed and I could have put that into any phone to receive the codes via text. Just so happened that the replacement phone came on the same morning as the replacement sim!
That's good to know!
Some banking apps suck though. For example, Barclays requires you to deactivate the app on your old phone in order to install it on the new one. I didn't do this when I last changed phones, so I'm no longer able to use the Barclaycard app (the advice they gave me was to just uninstall it and install the Barclays app instead — god knows what happens if I forget to deactivate that one when I change this phone!)
If I were a thief, when I stole a locked iPhone I would do the following:
1) I would try to enter the Medical ID, where I can see the name of the owner, age, personal info., and even emergency contacts and their numbers
2) I would Remove the SIM card, put it on another empty phone, and then call a contact to 'retrieve' the number
So, when all that information, I would start to call and text all those contacts to intimidate them and try to got the phone unlocked.
So, in my case, I did this and I recommend it to all my friends or family:
- No Medical ID on lock screen. Sorry. We live in a small country, so if I die on the street, you better find me on the only morgue in town. 🤣
- eSIM (helps protect SMS 2FA in some way)
1) I would try to enter the Medical ID, where I can see the name of the owner, age, personal info., and even emergency contacts and their numbers
2) I would Remove the SIM card, put it on another empty phone, and then call a contact to 'retrieve' the number
So, when all that information, I would start to call and text all those contacts to intimidate them and try to got the phone unlocked.
So, in my case, I did this and I recommend it to all my friends or family:
- No Medical ID on lock screen. Sorry. We live in a small country, so if I die on the street, you better find me on the only morgue in town. 🤣
- eSIM (helps protect SMS 2FA in some way)