iPhone 6 locked remotely: Don't use it if you don't pay

I just bought an iPhone 6, but it was suddenly locked remotely, and I couldn't unlock it myself. Moreover, the person who locked the phone sent me a blackmail message, claiming that I had to pay money to unlock it, otherwise the iPhone would become a "brick". This happened to a citizen in our city.

New phone suddenly locked, paid "ransom" to unlock

Mr. Huang, a citizen, said that the victim of the blackmail was his colleague Ayong (pseudonym). The incident happened on December 5. At that time, Ayong was playing with his newly bought iPhone 6. Suddenly, the phone showed that it was locked and then automatically restarted. After the restart, all the data in the phone had been erased, and it was prompted to log in to the Apple ID before the erasure to activate it.

What’s even more bizarre is that the phone also shows “your phone data has been erased, please contact the owner, QQ: xxxxx”. Owner? Isn’t the owner of the phone himself?

Ayong tried to enter his password several times but failed. He went online to try to retrieve his password, but found that his Apple ID verification email had been changed and there was no way to retrieve his password.

After many attempts, all ended in failure. Looking at the locked phone, Ayong had to search the Internet for the QQ displayed on the phone screen and add the other party as a friend. "Tell me the model and color of the phone." The other party was obviously an old hand and asked Ayong to confirm the phone information directly. After searching for the phone, the other party began to ask for money: "Unlock 600 yuan, restore data 300 yuan, only Alipay is allowed." The other party told Ayong that the Apple ID account, password, security, and verification email address had been modified by him. If he did not help Ayong unlock it, Ayong's iPhone 6 would become a "brick phone" and could only be used to tell time. In desperation, Ayong remitted the money according to the other party's request, and the other party unlocked Ayong's phone.

Ayong recalled that when he was playing with his mobile phone, a login box popped up and asked him to enter his Apple ID and password. He entered the password several times and it showed that the password was wrong. He suspected that his password might have been leaked, so he immediately went online to change the password. However, he did not expect that his phone was still locked a day later.

There have been many cases of extortion in other places, but Wenzhou has not received any reports yet

Ayong said that because the amount of money extorted was not large and it was too troublesome, he did not report it to the police. The reporter learned from the police that the city police have not received any similar reports so far. However, the reporter found that in Beijing, Jiangsu, Chongqing, Guangdong and even Australia, users have reported that their iPhones and iPads were locked and extorted.

Police sources analyzed that Ayong may have logged into a Trojan horse webpage or used a public wifi signal. When the fake Apple ID login page popped up, he did not carefully identify it and entered his own Apple ID, which was then obtained by the blackmailer. The blackmailer then logged into the computer and replaced it with the blackmailer's own Apple ID. The "Find My iPhone" function in iCloud was then used to lock Ayong's phone and carry out the blackmail.

The police official suggested that if citizens encounter similar situations, they should call the police immediately and not transfer money to the other party privately. Transferring money privately not only encourages the behavior of illegal and criminal suspects, but if the other party does not "keep his word" and asks for money again, the victim will face further losses.

Customer service said that if you encounter a locked phone, you can call the hotline for help

The reporter called Apple customer service as a customer, and the customer service said that they have received many similar complaints. Apple launched the "Find My iPhone" feature, which can remotely lock a lost iPhone using an Apple ID, but many users do not pay attention to protecting their Apple IDs, resulting in this feature being exploited by some lawless elements.

Customer service said that if customers find that their phones have been remotely locked, they should first retrieve their ID and password online to unlock it. If they find that their ID has been changed, they should call Apple's customer service hotline in time and provide the original information of the Apple ID. Through the search of Apple technicians, there is still hope that the changed ID can be retrieved and unlocked.

Apple customer service said that when users use their Apple ID, they should pay attention to protecting it, not input their ID and password into login boxes from unknown sources, and not enter web pages from unknown sources to vote. At the same time, they should promptly set up two-step verification for their Apple ID to enhance the security level of their ID.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.