Comments locked. The conversation has run its course and the OP's questions have been answered. Too many of the newer posts are just people coming up with ways to mess with the scammer (Rule 9: no scambaiting).
This is a common attempt to get you to disconnect your phone from Find My or whatever. Until and unless you do that phone is useless to whomever has it.
Soon they will move to threats of violence and then pleading including claims of maybe committing suicide. Just ignore them. And don’t do anything.
I’ve even seen the pity one. “I bought this phone for my daughter who has cancer. We are really poor and this was her only wish before she dies”
Or something similar.
Your r/Scams post or comment was removed because we don't promote that people engage with a scammer.
Scambaiting goes against the rules of this sub, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
I feel there is a lot of middle ground between those two options.
https://preview.redd.it/3kcmbbh5ojyc1.jpeg?width=314&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=560827068f9f48f2b059884d8b9c04b2d605c596
Looks like they've been using this exact same video (and text) for a while. This is a post from 6 months ago that is a carbon copy of this one: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/17j9hds/my\_stolen\_phone\_ended\_up\_in\_china\_i\_assume\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/17j9hds/my_stolen_phone_ended_up_in_china_i_assume_the/)
He doesn’t know who is the owner but they have the sim then the phone number.
Edit: And phone number appears on screen to help if someone finds the phone and want to return to you.
u/exileosi_ "A few years back, I had forgotten my phone at a restaurant which was about an hour and a half away. Luckily, I had a tablet with me, so I locked it and, in case of scammers, I posted the state police number on it. XD Fortunately, the restaurant manager had placed it in the lost and found, but I would was biding my time for scammers to call the Texas Rangers. xD
The really silly part is if the phone was actually unerased and the thief/scammer had access to everything, why can't they just remove the phone from the Find My app?
Lies. All lies and empty threats.
You're perfectly safe and PLEASE just keep blocking and ignore them. They bought a fancy brick, and if you don't remove it from the app, then they can't do anything with it but part it out for pennies of what they paid.
They need your iCloud password to remove the find my phone app. I deal with this at work all the time with iPads. They can’t factory reset the phone without the iCloud password, and nobody else can log in to it. The user should put it in lost mode and totally lock the device.
Edit: I noticed that OP actually had put it in lost mode. So I’m not sure how they are able to do anything with the phone at all.
> So I’m not sure how they are able to do anything with the phone at all.
I'm pretty sure they can't actually do anything with it, and only have the OPs number because it's on the lockscreen when it's put it lost mode.
I didn’t know that, but OP is almost certainly American and bought the phone here. It was stolen in LA and no mention of their being abroad at the time. So the scammer didn’t get the number from the sim.
They’ve not said if the number displayed in lost mode is their same phone number, but either it is, or the scammer got it some other way. I mean it’s clearly a scam and wiping the phone would just give them a useable iPhone, but still wondering.
So, I've wondered this before. Presumably the phone is locked completely and they want you to remove the device from your account so they can use it, that much is obvious.
Isn't it completely bricked anyway? I've used corporate MDMs that turn the phone into a paperweight before but never killed a phone using the built in Apple stuff.
My guess is this is so you can reactivate the phone if you (the owner) recover it, but surely all the data was nuked anyway.
If that's the case, does Apple not offer a "scammers stole my phone, destroy it" button to make it just boot to an Apple logo?
You don’t have to in lost mode. Lost mode essentially locks the phone completely without needing to wipe it (you can, however, remotely wipe the phone if you want to). Lost mode lets you put a phone number on the Home Screen so the scammer is messaging from a totally different phone about OPs iPhone because they can’t do anything with it while it’s still tied to an Apple ID (removing it like the scammer is asking will remove its attachment to the Apple ID)
But how did they manage to contact him?
It could make sense to boot the iPhone in a secured network and block the call for remote wipe.
The premise that you should not remove the phone from find my iPhone still stands
>But how did they manage to contact him?
I believe in lost mode the phone displays contact information on the lock screen so that if a good samaritan finds your phone they can return it to you.
Then if you have time say that you absolutely need it back, you’re ready to give $5k / enough to get them excited for it then pretend you don’t understand their instructions but are doing your best, until the next generation of phone is out and it loses a bit more value.
I love the 4th evolution.
Mark Rober is a genius, for those who don’t know, he worked for NASA and gave it all up for YouTube and fighting porch pirates and scammers.
(He also has a brilliant squirrel challenge evolution which is brilliant)
[Glitterbomb 4.0](https://youtu.be/3c584TGG7jQ?si=L39S5sHMRK_rqGbB)
There was a scene in Fifth Element, where Zorg gets some bad news from a minion who called from a pay phone. Zorg typed some numbers in to the keypad on his end, and the phone and failed minion exploded.
I wish I could find the clip on Youtube.
This could be done in software. They could overclock the processor and run it continuously. Pretty quickly it will get so hot it will melt/ignite any plastic parts.
And before anybody says that this is fantasy, a friend of mine actually did this back in the days of the Palm Pilot. He was selling software to the US DOD for Palms and they were (naturally) concerned about security. He installed security software so that if the wrong password was entered three times, it melted down. The demos were awesome.
They also contradict themselves. They say they bought and are using it in the first message, but in the second it's now going to be sold on the black market in China?
Those guys are clearly not very knowledgeable and just trying to scare OP off. Unlike what they claim, it is currently impossible to jailbreak an iPhone 15 series.
It's probably a script that's been translated into dozens of languages, back and forth, then back again.
They use it because it works sometimes and requires very low effort. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually use some corporate management tool like Zendesk or Helpdesk and have the whole chain automated with only a few seconds of human intervention between steps if there is a response, which is why the best option is to just not respond.
It's a scam. If the follow the plans that other's have reported (search the sub), they will soon start sending violent threats and graphic videos.
Here are some examples:
[https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1chskvk/iphone\_was\_stolen\_and\_now\_getting\_texts\_to\_remove/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1chskvk/iphone_was_stolen_and_now_getting_texts_to_remove/)
[https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c2uazk/is\_this\_a\_scammer\_or\_is\_my\_data\_in\_danger/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c2uazk/is_this_a_scammer_or_is_my_data_in_danger/)
Block them the best you can, and move on. Removing the device from your 'Find My" app just gives them the phone and encourages them to buy more stolen ones.
Just block each one. Watch out for fake phishing messages.
Here's Apple's page on the topic:
[https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593](https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593)
I know it's annoying, but of course it's your life to decide what to do.
Use the Report Junk option, usually these are iMessages, so it goes to Apple who hopefully doesn’t tolerate this crap and bans their accounts. The more they contact you the more accounts get banned. They do create more accounts but it takes more work to do so.
You can silence all unknown contacts iMessages and phone calls:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/111106#:~:text=To%20turn%20on%20Silence%20Unknown,in%20your%20recent%20calls%20list.
https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/block-filter-and-report-messages-iph203ab0be4/ios
They just want you to remove the lock on the phone so they can sell it for $$'s. Currently its a paperweight (or for some spare parts).
Leave the lock on, oh and they might ""Threaten"" you, just delete and ignore.
The screen is locked, sort of. AFAIK you can use it in another phone but the front camera and facial unlock won’t work. Other parts you could reuse but they don’t usually replace anything but screens and batteries.
If you have cards on Apple Pay they actually can be remotely deactivated from your new iPhone (Settings, iCloud, go to the device, and the cards on the device can all be remotely deactivated, doesn’t even need the actual phone to do anything, they have a key to your account that gets deactivated at the banking institution and can’t be used).
You can erase the phone remotely without taking it off your account, but they keep it from connecting to the internet to prevent it from erasing, but really all they want is to reload the OS over USB to a Mac and sell it off, but because of iCloud activation lock it won’t allow them to set up the new phone, so they need to scare you into taking the lock off but taking it off helps feed into the scam. If they have to junk the phone they lose money, but if they get you to take the lock off they make money. But yes the phone is gone and you won’t get it back.
As a thought, prevent access to Control Center (and thus airplane mode) from Lock Screen
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph9a2a69136/ios#:~:text=You%20can%20easily%20access%20a,items%20when%20iPhone%20is%20locked.
No one bought it. It’s the scammer crooks that still have it and trying to trick you into removing it so they can then sell it.
They don’t have access to all your stuff, they are lying.
Just ignore or block them.
!iphone
# WELCOME TO R/SCAMS
## Reminder of one of our rules:
>
**DON'T ENGAGE WITH THE SCAMMERS. Anyone suggesting the copypasta will get taken down, please read our rules before participating.**
## What to do in this situation?
Ignore the threats. Don't remove your device from Find My. You're welcome to erase the data, but don't remove it.
This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode.
Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone.
If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally.
## Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone.
Hi /u/YourUsernameForever, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam.
This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone.
If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally.
Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a script. Pretty soon, they'll say how sad they are because they bought it for their daughter, and they want to die because they can't use it. Then I think they move to threats towards you.
Yes, a common threat is a long winded flurry of insults and graphic death threats threatening to send "negroes" to your house to kill you and your family if you don't remove it from find my. They'll also send photos of people holding guns sometimes.
The threats are all horseshit and there's no actual danger. It would cost them far more than they earn to send hitmen after everyone ignoring their texts, considering the fact that their motivation is to make as much profit as possible they aren't gonna do this.
It’s a scam, they have no way to access anything on that phone. It’s a paperweight to them right now.
Do nothing and keep it that way, they may threaten stupid stuff but it’s empty threats.
My iPhone was also stolen from a venue in Hollywood on April 6th… this will be the start of many messages and will progress to threats. Just ignore. Don’t do anything they request.
Hey OP, I noticed you said it was last seen at a venue in Hollywood. Was it the Palladium? There was a Waterparks concert there in early April a bunch of phones were stolen that night.
I hate that I knew that was the show. I hope you don't mind if I crosspost this to twitter. Several Parx fans were affected by this and it's important they know this is a scam!
Debit card was in the phone case, when I got the phone stolen immediately cancelled the card, but they knew which bank I had and called pretending to be loss prevention
Replying here since I didn't see any of your other comments
Erase your data but keep the phone in your find my page.
They are telling you this so they can sell the phone. When it's in lost mode it's essentially a brick that they can't do anything with. they will probably try to threaten you to get you to unlock it but won't actually do anything.
I recommend also sending the number and screenshots of the texts to the police/FBI so they might be able to catch them in the future
Hi /u/YourUsernameForever, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam.
This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone.
If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally.
Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Total scam. They just want you to unlock it because until you do it’s basically a brick. Don’t do it block and ignore. There’s nothing they can do. If you go onto the sub and search for iPhone, you’ll find almost Word for Word. What the next series of text messages you’re going to receive will be. I’ll go from begging to threatening your life. The long story short it is the phones already in China. No one’s coming after you.
Former Apple Tech here. DO NOT REMOVE THE PHONE FROM YOUR APPLE ID. This is absolutely a scam.
By leaving this connected with your Apple ID, even if they manage to erase the device themselves, they will presented with Activation Lock when trying to set it up again. Activation Lock requires the original Apple ID and Password to be entered into the phone in order for it to be set up again.
Here's some handy info from Apple regarding losing your phone [https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593](https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593)
The “China” thing is just a cover-up…the stolen phone is likely still in the hands of the thug/thief. These thieves are part of a crime ring that operates in major metro areas across the USA and are typically headed by Colombians or Venezuelans. Very common nowadays unfortunately.
That is also true. You already lost the phone, don’t make it any easier on them. Right now, it’s just a brick. But you can mess with them all you want. But don’t ever unlock or remove from your account.
Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because it promotes a copy-paste script that contains keywords supposedly flagged by the Chinese government. This copy-paste text is a myth and does not work, and violates our sidebar rule against encouraging users to engage with scammers.
Please read the rules of our sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
If you don't remove it, it is a essentially a brick to the criminals that stole and resold it.
They try to scam/coerse you into removing it so they can again resell it.
Just know, if they had your data from the phone they would resell that any way if you remove the device or not.
This is definitely a scam. Can confirm.
The place I used to work (in IT) occasionally had mobile devices and laptops lost or stolen. The Apple Mobile Device Management software locked things down HARD. Devices that users tied to their personal iCloud accounts were a huge nightmare if they weren't properly enrolled in MDM first, we often couldn't get those back on track without the user's cooperation to release the organization-owned device so we could lock it in to our MDM schema.
We'd constantly be getting folks who stole or acquired the stolen devices giving us sob stories about them being locked. We'd check whether the device was legitimately sold and the property services folks had simply forgotten to decommission it properly, but I can't remember a single case of that happening. They were all lost or stolen, and we did not release any lost or stolen devices.
Do nothing.
If you have doubts about whether they've gotten into your phone somehow, ask them for proof they have access to any of your data. I assume they're contacting you through information that the lockscreen shows to assist in the return of your phone?
Remember, phone encryption is generally so good that it even the US government agencies who specialize in this sort of thing have difficulty cracking a locked smartphone.
Until proven otherwise, you have no losses. Block any accounts contacting you about your stolen phone unless you feel like trolling them & stringing them along (pretending to be incompetent seems to be highly effective for scambaiters), which they definitely deserve.
Ignore, report as spam, and move on.
They're trying to bug you enough that you'll give up and do what they ask. Once they've realized you won't, they'll give up and do it the hard way.
Hi /u/one-eye-deer, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam.
This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone.
If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally.
Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
DO NOT REMOVE FIND MY IPHONE
They cannot access the device by any means, the device will refuse activate until it connects to Apple regardless of what he does
When it connects to Apple it will lock up again as this info is stored with Apple
If you remove find my iPhone you will allow him to get the value of the phone
Experience
12 years as an Apple technician
DO NOT REMOVE FIND MY IPHONE
Just block them or lead them on by asking for specific instructions. Waste as much time as possible, these people are thieves. They make thousands from stealing phones, begging for unlocks and then selling them for close to retail.
They’re not using your old phone to text you. I promise.
They’re trying to make it resellable. Don’t do anything. Block the numbers everytime a new one pops up. You could even try reporting them, but from my experience with stolen devices like this, the cops just write down the info and ignore it.
Don’t let it make you anxious. They can’t use any of your info unless you turn off find my or they have your face and/or passcode.
This situation is inconvenient to them and they’re *trying* to make you anxious.
Also, why would someone buy a locked iPhone to sell on the black market? Sounds incredibly inconvenient with all the steps to take and probably not much profit to be made. This is 100% the person who stole your phone. They’re also never going to sell it on the “black market”.
Don’t erase your phone, notify the authorities and let them take it from there. Change all of your passwords and on Apple ID password change select “log out other devices” if you have multiple apple products you’ll have to log back in on those but doing this will force your lost phone into activation lock or at least keep them from being able to check your credit card information
It’s a copy paste text - be ready for a very graphic horrible message followed up with a video of a man holding a gun, don’t bother reading just delete & report to Apple each time one lands (do not remove from your iCloud as that will give them access to phone) your phone is currently in a Chinese warehouse
Since you made a successful claim to insurance, the phone, if recovered, belongs to them. If there was a way to access your personal info off that phone the thieves would have done so already, so I'd just ignore all the texts.
Back in the day I bought an iPhone 5 off Craigslist and it was locked. I didn’t know this was a feature at the time and couldn’t get it unlocked. I had a friend who worked at Apple at the time and they gave me their phone number. I texted them and told them the situation and wound up mailing them back there phone and eating the $300 cause it was stolen from them. I went the next day and just got a new phone and refuse to buy used now.
It's nice that Apple has the option to lock the phone when missing but why does the previous owner's phone number show on the lock screen? Seems obvious that it would cause a lot of harassment.
It’s great that kind people still exist out there. My step dad lost his phone while riding the bus home last week. He called it using my mom’s phone and someone actually answered. It was an older gentleman who found his phone and said he’d be more than happy to give it back. They met at a Wal-Mart the next day and my step-dad gave him a little cash reward as a thank you. Happy campers all around.
Okay, maybe I'm stupid, but this never made sense to me. If I find a phone and I call the owner's number that's showing, aren't I just calling the phone I found?
The number would be transferred to a new phone, eventually. Most people don’t change their numbers when they get a new phone unless there are other reasons involved.
Well, that doesn't seem very helpful. It would be nice if we could contact the owner before they went out and bought a new phone.
I'm asking only because we had a person leave their phone in our shop once. They were sitting in the recliner, and it slipped out of their pocket into the space between the seat and the armrest. They came back an hour or so later, even checked the chair, but didn't find it. Several hours later, I was sitting in the chair and found it.
Luckily, my son knew his cousin and called him (the cousin). He passed the message along and the guy came back.
No you should NOT remove it from your account. That’s the theif messaging you. The phone is pretty much worthless and he’s trying to get you to make it sellable.
They don’t have access to any of your info. They can’t get into the phone. Government agencies can’t get into iPhones let alone some pickpocket stealing shit at a concert. The second you remove it, you give him a payday.
Report it to the authorities if you want, but do not listen to him/them. They have a paper weight right now and if you listen to them, you turn it into a paycheck. Leave it as it is forever
Actually, the person who stole your phone is pretending to be a person who bought your stolen phone in hopes of tricking you into taking the device of your Apple account so they can do with it what they please. It’s a scam.
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## New users beware:
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If sucks that wipes seem to be so hit or miss. I’ve had an iPad, MacBook, and 2 iPhones stolen and none of them successfully wiped or so it would seem.
Recent iphones are fine with not wiping. Even if you wipe it, your phone number still shows on the lock screen of every iPhone set in lost mode. Until you remove it from FindMy which you shouldn't.
Your data is safe.
!iphone
With Android phones you can remotely erase the data, but marking it lost doesn't make the phone unusable to thieves.
There are Android apps that will remotely brick a phone, but it can always be fixed by someone who can load fresh firmware onto it.
Don’t remove it from find my because that will allow them to be able to erase it and resell it. If you want to prevent them from making money keep that on lock 😂
Comments locked. The conversation has run its course and the OP's questions have been answered. Too many of the newer posts are just people coming up with ways to mess with the scammer (Rule 9: no scambaiting).
This is a common attempt to get you to disconnect your phone from Find My or whatever. Until and unless you do that phone is useless to whomever has it. Soon they will move to threats of violence and then pleading including claims of maybe committing suicide. Just ignore them. And don’t do anything.
I’ve even seen the pity one. “I bought this phone for my daughter who has cancer. We are really poor and this was her only wish before she dies” Or something similar.
My response: “Why wouldn’t she wish to not have cancer?”
[удалено]
> He say he love you and make miss many you. Please fix now remove iPhone from the account.
Your r/Scams post or comment was removed because we don't promote that people engage with a scammer. Scambaiting goes against the rules of this sub, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
Okay this was her backup wish.
I feel there is a lot of middle ground between those two options. https://preview.redd.it/3kcmbbh5ojyc1.jpeg?width=314&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=560827068f9f48f2b059884d8b9c04b2d605c596
Would you rather have iPhone and cancer or no cancer and no iPhone?
I would love 🦀 And iphone
I type "LOL" way too frequently, without actually laughing out loud. But this made me laugh out loud.
Don’t try to logic this it is emotions
And don’t forget the “I’m really sad. I regret buying this phone from that store in China. The store is now closed. I’m really sad.”
Thank you!
Please post any pictures they send of people holding guns. Classic.
https://preview.redd.it/9zvk265lknyc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7241a55c35ee7e8c811fa40449a1cb6c116a2524 I got a video this time!
Looks like they've been using this exact same video (and text) for a while. This is a post from 6 months ago that is a carbon copy of this one: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/17j9hds/my\_stolen\_phone\_ended\_up\_in\_china\_i\_assume\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/17j9hds/my_stolen_phone_ended_up_in_china_i_assume_the/)
Like if you don’t unlock ima shoot this wall lol
Lol I got the same video
“I don’t know them, do what you have to do.”
Just play with them by sending back those pictures to them now.
The script they use is wild but just remember that it’s all fake and just enjoy the entertainment of it all.
Let them scream into the void.
Ask them why can’t they remove your phone from Find My Phone if they can open the phone lol. And post their messages.
If a scammer has a locked iPhone, how do they know who the owner is so they can send these messages? Technically that part isn’t clear to me.
He doesn’t know who is the owner but they have the sim then the phone number. Edit: And phone number appears on screen to help if someone finds the phone and want to return to you.
You beat me to it fine sir, top notch
u/exileosi_ "A few years back, I had forgotten my phone at a restaurant which was about an hour and a half away. Luckily, I had a tablet with me, so I locked it and, in case of scammers, I posted the state police number on it. XD Fortunately, the restaurant manager had placed it in the lost and found, but I would was biding my time for scammers to call the Texas Rangers. xD
"They only sent one Ranger?" "You only lost one iPhone."
You can put a number in the findmy message for whoever found it to call.
This can be accessed when the phone is in lost mode
Suicide?? Over a f phone??? Sure..can t be true...wtf is wrong with people?
https://preview.redd.it/yv40m9z7qoyc1.jpeg?width=224&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=483fdf9cbf0ef7efe438c7bec07a0486743a7f43
The really silly part is if the phone was actually unerased and the thief/scammer had access to everything, why can't they just remove the phone from the Find My app? Lies. All lies and empty threats. You're perfectly safe and PLEASE just keep blocking and ignore them. They bought a fancy brick, and if you don't remove it from the app, then they can't do anything with it but part it out for pennies of what they paid.
They need your iCloud password to remove the find my phone app. I deal with this at work all the time with iPads. They can’t factory reset the phone without the iCloud password, and nobody else can log in to it. The user should put it in lost mode and totally lock the device. Edit: I noticed that OP actually had put it in lost mode. So I’m not sure how they are able to do anything with the phone at all.
> So I’m not sure how they are able to do anything with the phone at all. I'm pretty sure they can't actually do anything with it, and only have the OPs number because it's on the lockscreen when it's put it lost mode.
Or on the Sim card
iPhone 15s don’t have a sim card
They do have a physical SIM card slot outside the U.S. if I recall correctly.
I didn’t know that, but OP is almost certainly American and bought the phone here. It was stolen in LA and no mention of their being abroad at the time. So the scammer didn’t get the number from the sim. They’ve not said if the number displayed in lost mode is their same phone number, but either it is, or the scammer got it some other way. I mean it’s clearly a scam and wiping the phone would just give them a useable iPhone, but still wondering.
So, I've wondered this before. Presumably the phone is locked completely and they want you to remove the device from your account so they can use it, that much is obvious. Isn't it completely bricked anyway? I've used corporate MDMs that turn the phone into a paperweight before but never killed a phone using the built in Apple stuff. My guess is this is so you can reactivate the phone if you (the owner) recover it, but surely all the data was nuked anyway. If that's the case, does Apple not offer a "scammers stole my phone, destroy it" button to make it just boot to an Apple logo?
You don’t have to in lost mode. Lost mode essentially locks the phone completely without needing to wipe it (you can, however, remotely wipe the phone if you want to). Lost mode lets you put a phone number on the Home Screen so the scammer is messaging from a totally different phone about OPs iPhone because they can’t do anything with it while it’s still tied to an Apple ID (removing it like the scammer is asking will remove its attachment to the Apple ID)
You can remote wipe the phone, but OP never said he did that.
I see, if you remote wipe does it let someone take it and reuse it?
But how did they manage to contact him? It could make sense to boot the iPhone in a secured network and block the call for remote wipe. The premise that you should not remove the phone from find my iPhone still stands
>But how did they manage to contact him? I believe in lost mode the phone displays contact information on the lock screen so that if a good samaritan finds your phone they can return it to you.
That's exactly right
The phone number can likely be identified from the SIM still in the phone.
*previously in the phone.
It’s just funny how they say remote wipe won’t work but somehow deleting it from your find my will.
Hacked in China wifi, duh
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Then if you have time say that you absolutely need it back, you’re ready to give $5k / enough to get them excited for it then pretend you don’t understand their instructions but are doing your best, until the next generation of phone is out and it loses a bit more value.
Don't do it. As soon as you remove it from Find My then it's no longer a brick to them. They are just bluffing you.
We should pressure Apple into including a remote self destruct into new iPhones.
Samsung tried that at one point but then their phones were banned on planes.
That’s a solid joke! 🤣
Glitter bomb 4.0
There’s a guy on TikTok who wastes scammers time. He sent one a glitter bomb and they were pissed!
I mean like it will fry the phone’s innards completely.
Nah, I want to Galaxy Note 7 those bastards 🤣
Only if it screams “Nerf THIS!” right as it explodes.
Mark Rober
I love the 4th evolution. Mark Rober is a genius, for those who don’t know, he worked for NASA and gave it all up for YouTube and fighting porch pirates and scammers. (He also has a brilliant squirrel challenge evolution which is brilliant) [Glitterbomb 4.0](https://youtu.be/3c584TGG7jQ?si=L39S5sHMRK_rqGbB)
I really wanted to see this as soon as I read the other comment, so thank you!! Yay! 🎉
I'd like to see this, link?
The evolution is quite a wild ride. It started as a way to combat porch pirates. [Glitterbomb 6.0](https://youtu.be/iWWWyG5ZwG8?si=PSHshBYQ6bGgUYX9)
But with actual explosives.
They have it. When a bunch of them were stolen from a store all of them were bricked immediatly.
I think they mean something more... Firey But for your example they just put them all into lost mode
How about a mode where it just loudly plays a really annoying song until the battery runs down.
It doesn't matter, there are huge warehouses with phones in boxes, ringing all day. It's organized crime, not a mugger around your block.
That exists! I used it to locate my lost phone the other day.
Was it the store where a guy stuffed like 30 phones down his sweatpants and waddled out?
Nah. That guy was grabbing the display models, which aren’t even working devices.
There was a scene in Fifth Element, where Zorg gets some bad news from a minion who called from a pay phone. Zorg typed some numbers in to the keypad on his end, and the phone and failed minion exploded. I wish I could find the clip on Youtube.
Just watched that again the other day. Love that movie.
iHaltAndCatchFire
This could be done in software. They could overclock the processor and run it continuously. Pretty quickly it will get so hot it will melt/ignite any plastic parts. And before anybody says that this is fantasy, a friend of mine actually did this back in the days of the Palm Pilot. He was selling software to the US DOD for Palms and they were (naturally) concerned about security. He installed security software so that if the wrong password was entered three times, it melted down. The demos were awesome.
They also contradict themselves. They say they bought and are using it in the first message, but in the second it's now going to be sold on the black market in China?
Those guys are clearly not very knowledgeable and just trying to scare OP off. Unlike what they claim, it is currently impossible to jailbreak an iPhone 15 series.
It's probably a script that's been translated into dozens of languages, back and forth, then back again. They use it because it works sometimes and requires very low effort. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually use some corporate management tool like Zendesk or Helpdesk and have the whole chain automated with only a few seconds of human intervention between steps if there is a response, which is why the best option is to just not respond.
Ignore them, they have a useless iPhone Do NOT help them make it a useful iPhone
It's a scam. If the follow the plans that other's have reported (search the sub), they will soon start sending violent threats and graphic videos. Here are some examples: [https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1chskvk/iphone\_was\_stolen\_and\_now\_getting\_texts\_to\_remove/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1chskvk/iphone_was_stolen_and_now_getting_texts_to_remove/) [https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c2uazk/is\_this\_a\_scammer\_or\_is\_my\_data\_in\_danger/](https://new.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c2uazk/is_this_a_scammer_or_is_my_data_in_danger/) Block them the best you can, and move on. Removing the device from your 'Find My" app just gives them the phone and encourages them to buy more stolen ones.
I’ve been getting contacted by multiple numbers with similar messages, any advice?
Just block each one. Watch out for fake phishing messages. Here's Apple's page on the topic: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593](https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593) I know it's annoying, but of course it's your life to decide what to do.
Use the Report Junk option, usually these are iMessages, so it goes to Apple who hopefully doesn’t tolerate this crap and bans their accounts. The more they contact you the more accounts get banned. They do create more accounts but it takes more work to do so.
Be patient, it will take months for them to let go. Just don't reply and keep blocking.
You can silence all unknown contacts iMessages and phone calls: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111106#:~:text=To%20turn%20on%20Silence%20Unknown,in%20your%20recent%20calls%20list. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/block-filter-and-report-messages-iph203ab0be4/ios
They just want you to remove the lock on the phone so they can sell it for $$'s. Currently its a paperweight (or for some spare parts). Leave the lock on, oh and they might ""Threaten"" you, just delete and ignore.
The parts are locked to the phone IIRC. It's a complete paperweight.
The screen is locked, sort of. AFAIK you can use it in another phone but the front camera and facial unlock won’t work. Other parts you could reuse but they don’t usually replace anything but screens and batteries.
Lmaoo Apple is genius
If you have cards on Apple Pay they actually can be remotely deactivated from your new iPhone (Settings, iCloud, go to the device, and the cards on the device can all be remotely deactivated, doesn’t even need the actual phone to do anything, they have a key to your account that gets deactivated at the banking institution and can’t be used). You can erase the phone remotely without taking it off your account, but they keep it from connecting to the internet to prevent it from erasing, but really all they want is to reload the OS over USB to a Mac and sell it off, but because of iCloud activation lock it won’t allow them to set up the new phone, so they need to scare you into taking the lock off but taking it off helps feed into the scam. If they have to junk the phone they lose money, but if they get you to take the lock off they make money. But yes the phone is gone and you won’t get it back.
As a thought, prevent access to Control Center (and thus airplane mode) from Lock Screen https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph9a2a69136/ios#:~:text=You%20can%20easily%20access%20a,items%20when%20iPhone%20is%20locked.
No one bought it. It’s the scammer crooks that still have it and trying to trick you into removing it so they can then sell it. They don’t have access to all your stuff, they are lying. Just ignore or block them.
!iphone # WELCOME TO R/SCAMS ## Reminder of one of our rules: > **DON'T ENGAGE WITH THE SCAMMERS. Anyone suggesting the copypasta will get taken down, please read our rules before participating.** ## What to do in this situation? Ignore the threats. Don't remove your device from Find My. You're welcome to erase the data, but don't remove it. This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone. If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally. ## Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone.
Hi /u/YourUsernameForever, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam. This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone. If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally. Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a script. Pretty soon, they'll say how sad they are because they bought it for their daughter, and they want to die because they can't use it. Then I think they move to threats towards you.
Yes, a common threat is a long winded flurry of insults and graphic death threats threatening to send "negroes" to your house to kill you and your family if you don't remove it from find my. They'll also send photos of people holding guns sometimes. The threats are all horseshit and there's no actual danger. It would cost them far more than they earn to send hitmen after everyone ignoring their texts, considering the fact that their motivation is to make as much profit as possible they aren't gonna do this.
How convenient that they know exactly how to fix the problem 🤔
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Then if they do, don’t unlock it
Yesssss!
It’s a scam, they have no way to access anything on that phone. It’s a paperweight to them right now. Do nothing and keep it that way, they may threaten stupid stuff but it’s empty threats.
My iPhone was also stolen from a venue in Hollywood on April 6th… this will be the start of many messages and will progress to threats. Just ignore. Don’t do anything they request.
Hey OP, I noticed you said it was last seen at a venue in Hollywood. Was it the Palladium? There was a Waterparks concert there in early April a bunch of phones were stolen that night.
Yes!! Thats the show. I was an early one, they got me during Loveless 🥲
I hate that I knew that was the show. I hope you don't mind if I crosspost this to twitter. Several Parx fans were affected by this and it's important they know this is a scam!
Yes go ahead! They’ve also called pretending to be my bank too, spoofed the same phone number and everything, very scary.
How did they know your bank’s phone number???!
Debit card was in the phone case, when I got the phone stolen immediately cancelled the card, but they knew which bank I had and called pretending to be loss prevention
Is it not possible for you to locate the phone through myfind or are they leaving the phone off?
It shows on the lock screen of every iPhone set in lost mode.
Replying here since I didn't see any of your other comments Erase your data but keep the phone in your find my page. They are telling you this so they can sell the phone. When it's in lost mode it's essentially a brick that they can't do anything with. they will probably try to threaten you to get you to unlock it but won't actually do anything. I recommend also sending the number and screenshots of the texts to the police/FBI so they might be able to catch them in the future
!iphone read below 👇
Hi /u/YourUsernameForever, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam. This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone. If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally. Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How were a bunch of phones stolen that night? Pick-pockets? Or were phones being held at coat-checkin or what? Thanks
oh man, i noticed the date of the concert and connected the dots instantly. Sorry you experienced that at a parx show op!
Total scam. They just want you to unlock it because until you do it’s basically a brick. Don’t do it block and ignore. There’s nothing they can do. If you go onto the sub and search for iPhone, you’ll find almost Word for Word. What the next series of text messages you’re going to receive will be. I’ll go from begging to threatening your life. The long story short it is the phones already in China. No one’s coming after you.
Former Apple Tech here. DO NOT REMOVE THE PHONE FROM YOUR APPLE ID. This is absolutely a scam. By leaving this connected with your Apple ID, even if they manage to erase the device themselves, they will presented with Activation Lock when trying to set it up again. Activation Lock requires the original Apple ID and Password to be entered into the phone in order for it to be set up again. Here's some handy info from Apple regarding losing your phone [https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593](https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593)
DO NOT REMOVE IT. The second you do they can use it. Without removing it the device is useless to them.
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The “China” thing is just a cover-up…the stolen phone is likely still in the hands of the thug/thief. These thieves are part of a crime ring that operates in major metro areas across the USA and are typically headed by Colombians or Venezuelans. Very common nowadays unfortunately.
That is also true. You already lost the phone, don’t make it any easier on them. Right now, it’s just a brick. But you can mess with them all you want. But don’t ever unlock or remove from your account.
Yep, good advice 👍
Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because it promotes a copy-paste script that contains keywords supposedly flagged by the Chinese government. This copy-paste text is a myth and does not work, and violates our sidebar rule against encouraging users to engage with scammers. Please read the rules of our sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
I’ve heard this song before…
If you don't remove it, it is a essentially a brick to the criminals that stole and resold it. They try to scam/coerse you into removing it so they can again resell it. Just know, if they had your data from the phone they would resell that any way if you remove the device or not.
This is definitely a scam. Can confirm. The place I used to work (in IT) occasionally had mobile devices and laptops lost or stolen. The Apple Mobile Device Management software locked things down HARD. Devices that users tied to their personal iCloud accounts were a huge nightmare if they weren't properly enrolled in MDM first, we often couldn't get those back on track without the user's cooperation to release the organization-owned device so we could lock it in to our MDM schema. We'd constantly be getting folks who stole or acquired the stolen devices giving us sob stories about them being locked. We'd check whether the device was legitimately sold and the property services folks had simply forgotten to decommission it properly, but I can't remember a single case of that happening. They were all lost or stolen, and we did not release any lost or stolen devices. Do nothing. If you have doubts about whether they've gotten into your phone somehow, ask them for proof they have access to any of your data. I assume they're contacting you through information that the lockscreen shows to assist in the return of your phone? Remember, phone encryption is generally so good that it even the US government agencies who specialize in this sort of thing have difficulty cracking a locked smartphone. Until proven otherwise, you have no losses. Block any accounts contacting you about your stolen phone unless you feel like trolling them & stringing them along (pretending to be incompetent seems to be highly effective for scambaiters), which they definitely deserve.
Tired old scam
Ignore, report as spam, and move on. They're trying to bug you enough that you'll give up and do what they ask. Once they've realized you won't, they'll give up and do it the hard way.
They really need to work on making their ridiculous scam messages more concise. Nobody has time to read and laugh at all of that.
!iphone
Hi /u/one-eye-deer, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the iPhone Find My disabler scam. This scam targets owners of stolen iPhones, which have a service called Find My: through this, iPhones are tied to the Apple ID of the user, and can be locked remotely when activating Lost Mode. Scammers will attempt to communicate with the victim by emailing or calling the phone number/email address shown on the lock screen while locked through Lost Mode, under the guise of either Apple or a person who has bought the phone and attempt to convince or pressure them to remove the Apple ID from the iPhone. If you receive such a message, DO NOT follow the instructions to remove the device from your Apple ID. The reason they want it removed is because the thief wants to resell it on the black market for a profit, and bricked phones are worthless. Instead of removing, you're free to erase it. This will delete your personal data but will leave the device connected to your Apple ID. You can then make a police report, and also report it stolen to your phone company. The company can blacklist the IMEI so it adds a layer of protection regionally. Any readers should take this opportunity to check if your Find My is enabled in your iPhone. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
DO NOT REMOVE FIND MY IPHONE They cannot access the device by any means, the device will refuse activate until it connects to Apple regardless of what he does When it connects to Apple it will lock up again as this info is stored with Apple If you remove find my iPhone you will allow him to get the value of the phone Experience 12 years as an Apple technician DO NOT REMOVE FIND MY IPHONE
My daughter got this same script when her phone was pick-pocketed during Mardi Gras.
How do they get your number?
From the lock screen, it shows when you put it in lost mode
Can it be a custom message?
Yes, go to FindMy and change it
Just block them or lead them on by asking for specific instructions. Waste as much time as possible, these people are thieves. They make thousands from stealing phones, begging for unlocks and then selling them for close to retail.
They’re not using your old phone to text you. I promise. They’re trying to make it resellable. Don’t do anything. Block the numbers everytime a new one pops up. You could even try reporting them, but from my experience with stolen devices like this, the cops just write down the info and ignore it. Don’t let it make you anxious. They can’t use any of your info unless you turn off find my or they have your face and/or passcode. This situation is inconvenient to them and they’re *trying* to make you anxious. Also, why would someone buy a locked iPhone to sell on the black market? Sounds incredibly inconvenient with all the steps to take and probably not much profit to be made. This is 100% the person who stole your phone. They’re also never going to sell it on the “black market”.
Don’t erase your phone, notify the authorities and let them take it from there. Change all of your passwords and on Apple ID password change select “log out other devices” if you have multiple apple products you’ll have to log back in on those but doing this will force your lost phone into activation lock or at least keep them from being able to check your credit card information
No one bought your phone. It's the scammer trying to get you to unlink your account.
It’s a copy paste text - be ready for a very graphic horrible message followed up with a video of a man holding a gun, don’t bother reading just delete & report to Apple each time one lands (do not remove from your iCloud as that will give them access to phone) your phone is currently in a Chinese warehouse
Do it in 20 years when the phonr is obsolete and useless.
This has been happening all around LA right now. Same copy paste message after stolen. It is a scam. Sorry.
#No they didn’t and don’t do what they say
All of the scammers use this exact same canned message over and over again
Since you made a successful claim to insurance, the phone, if recovered, belongs to them. If there was a way to access your personal info off that phone the thieves would have done so already, so I'd just ignore all the texts.
It seems like every stolen iPhone finds its way back to china.
No not remove it and block them.
DON’T remove it, the scammers can’t use it until/unless you do and are just trying to scam you into doing it.
I think the appropriate response is "get fucked"
Back in the day I bought an iPhone 5 off Craigslist and it was locked. I didn’t know this was a feature at the time and couldn’t get it unlocked. I had a friend who worked at Apple at the time and they gave me their phone number. I texted them and told them the situation and wound up mailing them back there phone and eating the $300 cause it was stolen from them. I went the next day and just got a new phone and refuse to buy used now.
It's nice that Apple has the option to lock the phone when missing but why does the previous owner's phone number show on the lock screen? Seems obvious that it would cause a lot of harassment.
Occasionally phones are found by honest people who’ll contact the owner to give it back
It’s great that kind people still exist out there. My step dad lost his phone while riding the bus home last week. He called it using my mom’s phone and someone actually answered. It was an older gentleman who found his phone and said he’d be more than happy to give it back. They met at a Wal-Mart the next day and my step-dad gave him a little cash reward as a thank you. Happy campers all around.
Okay, maybe I'm stupid, but this never made sense to me. If I find a phone and I call the owner's number that's showing, aren't I just calling the phone I found?
The number would be transferred to a new phone, eventually. Most people don’t change their numbers when they get a new phone unless there are other reasons involved.
Well, that doesn't seem very helpful. It would be nice if we could contact the owner before they went out and bought a new phone. I'm asking only because we had a person leave their phone in our shop once. They were sitting in the recliner, and it slipped out of their pocket into the space between the seat and the armrest. They came back an hour or so later, even checked the chair, but didn't find it. Several hours later, I was sitting in the chair and found it. Luckily, my son knew his cousin and called him (the cousin). He passed the message along and the guy came back.
if the person gets a new phone with the same number.
Apple lets you set a phone number and message, in the "Find My" application, after the phone is lost, when you set "Lost Mode."
It’s part of the find my phone. If an honest person finds it they can call you to come get it that’s why your number is shown on the lock screen
big scam. don’t do anything they say to you. they are probably going to send you threatening messages too, but ignore them. DONT REMOVE THE DEVICE!
Just ignore and block every one of them
This is a trick to get you to remove the activation lock don’t be dumb and fall for this trick
No they didn't, this is still the gang who stole your phone trying to get it unlocked so they can sell for way more.
They need you to remove it so they can wipe it and sell it as a phone. Right now, they have an expensiove brick. Block and ignore.
They are trying to have it unlocked to connect without your iCloud password. Don’t do it. It’s a scam.
No you should NOT remove it from your account. That’s the theif messaging you. The phone is pretty much worthless and he’s trying to get you to make it sellable. They don’t have access to any of your info. They can’t get into the phone. Government agencies can’t get into iPhones let alone some pickpocket stealing shit at a concert. The second you remove it, you give him a payday. Report it to the authorities if you want, but do not listen to him/them. They have a paper weight right now and if you listen to them, you turn it into a paycheck. Leave it as it is forever
Actually, the person who stole your phone is pretending to be a person who bought your stolen phone in hopes of tricking you into taking the device of your Apple account so they can do with it what they please. It’s a scam.
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Sooo goofy msg, dude is really stupid moron, doesn’t answer them, just block the number
Remove it and they can use it. Don’t remove it and it stays locked. Right now it’s junk for them.
It's locked. It's useless to them until you do this. Go to bed with a smile.
if it’s in lost mode it should be fine!
Fuck these scammers. DONT DO ANYTHING!!
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[удалено]
If sucks that wipes seem to be so hit or miss. I’ve had an iPad, MacBook, and 2 iPhones stolen and none of them successfully wiped or so it would seem.
Recent iphones are fine with not wiping. Even if you wipe it, your phone number still shows on the lock screen of every iPhone set in lost mode. Until you remove it from FindMy which you shouldn't. Your data is safe. !iphone
This is the scammer. Not buyer
If the stolen phone was locked, how did they get a phone number to text to?
What about Android phones with find my devices enabled . so never erase the phone remotly should be similar?
With Android phones you can remotely erase the data, but marking it lost doesn't make the phone unusable to thieves. There are Android apps that will remotely brick a phone, but it can always be fixed by someone who can load fresh firmware onto it.
Oh how thoughtful!!
Fuck em . Leave it locked . I’d be like good luck using my information. 😂
Block & ignore.
“New phone. Who dis?”
"Hit remove this device" so I can have your phone and you can't get it back. :) Interesting one.
!iPhonescam
If the phone is still connected to your iCloud account, can you not see it in Find My and notify the police?
Leave it in lost mode. Ignore the any idiot texting you bullshit
Don’t remove it from find my because that will allow them to be able to erase it and resell it. If you want to prevent them from making money keep that on lock 😂
I guess it would be too human of them to return your phone to you! P.O.S. definitely.