It’s not bad enough that you may get your iPhone or iPad stolen, now you may have to deal with those same crooks trying to trick you into helping them unlock the stolen device!
Symantec has discovered a campaign that aims to unlock Apple devices after they’ve been lost, which requires either the device’s passcode or the credentials for a person’s iCloud account.
The criminals appear to be using the information that is displayed on the device when it is in “Lost Mode” to get in contact with the victims.
Joji Hamada of Symantec writes in his blog post:
“The criminals send a text message to the phone number, saying something like ‘Apple Inc. Your iPad Air 3G 64GB Space Gray linked to [email address] has been located today at 14:14 PDT. See location: [link].’ The link leads to a phishing site that is designed to look like the login screen for iCloud.”
UGH!
If you supply the credentials you use to login to iCloud, the thieves can use that info to turn off “Lost Mode” and make the stolen device usable.
“Owners who are emotionally distressed due to the loss of their iPhone or iPad may easily fall for this scam, as they may be desperate to get their device back,” Hamada wrote.
The scammers are targeting iOS device owners who speak any of a number of languages. The phishing sites are available in ten different languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, and Indonesian.
If you lose your iPhone or iPad and receive a text like seen above, immediately contact the authorities, do not click the link and enter your iCloud login info.
