{"id":23076,"date":"2022-12-13T14:49:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T14:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/find-my-lays-out-global-anatomy-of-an-iphone-theft\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T14:49:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T14:49:41","slug":"find-my-lays-out-global-anatomy-of-an-iphone-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/find-my-lays-out-global-anatomy-of-an-iphone-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Find My lays out global anatomy of an iPhone theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The chain of events that follow after an iPhone<\/a> theft have been recounted by a victim that used Find My to see how the smartphone traveled world-wide as a theft ring attempts to profit from its crime. <\/p>\n

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Smartphone thefts<\/a> are a common occurrence around the world, and are now a highly-organized operation. In one view of what happens after such a theft, a Mastodon thread reveals the iPhone can go on a very long solo journey. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mastodon user “Emerson” explains<\/a> they had their iPhone stolen on a business trip to London, and had been keeping track of its movements via Find My<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The theft took place on Oxford Street as the victim responded to a text. Within 30 seconds, a cyclist snatched the phone from their hands, and rapidly got away. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After realizing the iPhone was still unlocked, they opened Find My on a MacBook, set the iPhone to Lost Mode, and initiated a remote wipe. The movements of the iPhone could still be observed, and therefore the thief. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The thief was tracked going down Oxford Street, passing through multiple tube stops, and circling “around touristy areas a couple times,” preying on potentially easy targets. Eventually, the iPhone stopped moving in Tottenham, and the owner stopped tracking it on the assumption it was a basic theft that would involve a sale on Facebook Marketplace. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“But no, it turned out to be far more sophisticated,” the victim explains. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The next day, phishing messages were sent to their emergency contacts, using URLs that led to a Find My-style phishing page. It is believed this was an attempt to secure the Apple ID password associated with the iPhone, since it cannot be reactivated without the original Apple ID. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At this point, the iPhone was also found to be in a different location in London, where it stayed for weeks. It was assumed that the iPhone would be scrapped for parts since the phishing attacks failed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A shift to China<\/h2>\n

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An email was received a month later, stating the Activation Lock on the stolen iPhone was requesting a password. On opening up Find My, it turned out the iPhone had reached Shenzhen, China. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I initially thought this was some basic theft where my phone gets resold as a brick to some poor soul on Facebook Marketplace,” Emerson explains. “But nope, it was way more sophisticated than that with a full-blown phishing attempts and a final ship off to China.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In concluding the coverage, Emerson offers a variety of tips to other travelers, including enabling Find My on their devices, having a way to access Find My from other hardware, to be wary of who you list as emergency contacts and of text messages, and to avoid making any hardware a single point of failure. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lastly, “Don’t text while waiting at a crosswalk in London.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is unsurprising that the stolen iPhone reached Shenzhen, as there have been previous instances of sophisticated criminal organizations in the country dealing with iPhones. For example, in 2018, a report explained the lengths Apple went to in combating rampant repair fraud<\/a>, where organized teams would steal components from iPhones, return them to stores for repairs, and received replacements that were then resold. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Find My has also been useful in other crimes that involved Apple products in other ways. In November, car thieves<\/a> in New Hampshire were busted after AirPods<\/a> in the vehicle were tracked, while in August, a baggage handler<\/a> was arrested for stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and other items, found via AirTag<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n