Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it - Gothamist

the methods used by thiefs to try and get access to your phone data.

It is not about accessing the data but to disassociate the current user from the phone so that the thief can reset the phone or/and it's components for new users.

As much as I love my android phone, I have to admit Apple takes privacy and security much more seriously.

Man, the last threat the author received was absolutely BEGGING for the navy seal copypasta lololol

Honestly I'm scared of when these people figure out they can use llms to make their texts look like less obvious scams

I’m confused, in the article he said it was a brick to whoever has his stolen phone. How did they get his phone number to send him text messages? Did they crack the passcode and needed the iCloud password?

Whoa that was a wild ride, worth the read. It's a sad market that exists, great to see Apple's privacy and security at work (as an Android user even).

Someone's going to sell your phone on the black market

is my favorite

Why doesn’t anything this interesting happen to me!

As the author found out, these phones end up in Shenzhen. You can buy these burnt logic boards on the cheap and lots do just for testing. Check out Strange Parts on YT, he has soldered lots of boards and shows they sell them in bins. The grey market is the only place for them.

Also, for those that aren’t familiar with how Apple’s encryption works. The OS creates a key pair when you create your account, fully encrypting the contents. The contents become garbage if the key pair cannot be matched. This means even if you don’t remotely wipe the contents, the data they try to get from say recovery software or whatever, cannot be read. It’s of course good to wipe it remotely in case they guess your PIN, but if they can’t, then the data is gone forever. From a technical perspective, it’s actually pretty cool.

The article does not mention reporting it to the police. I get that 99.99% of the time, nothing will come of it, but that's something I would immediately do. Maybe I just don't get the rich aspect of going out and buying the newest latest model right away and forgetting about the stolen phone, even if it is theoretically still in the reach of police forces.

As someone who’s experienced the same thing, some of the messages I received were shockingly well written.

The fake “find my” site they tried to use to convince me to log into my iCloud account was wildly convincing, if not for the index.php at the end of the URL - something Apple would never configure for service endpoints.

They continued to try - but never threatening. However I never engaged and eventually they just stopped trying.

This made me realize, as an android user, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do if someone steals my phone.

Uhg! It’s outta control.

Does anybody have ideas for an anti-pick-pocketing solution they'd like to share? I might have to start a community for it. Or maybe you know some forums where designers who may be interested might be hanging out.

Requirements:

• retrofit almost any front pants/shorts pocket
• allow for near instant access (allowing for e.g. snapping a photo before the moment passes)
• one-handed access
• mechanical/passive: non-battery operated or fails in “unlocked” mode
• if not locked to owner’s hand (or say a finger-worn key), makes removal feel obvious
• automatically resets (resilient & inebriated person approved)
• ideally works with any phone case
• relatively inexpensive, and potentially even open source and/or 3D printable

Lately been imagining something like this, kinda… not really, and with only 2-3 fins:

so you gotta pull your phone out in a way that stretches the pocket to max width and one fin noticeably rubs against your leg.

Doesn’t meet all the requirements but also thought about a long and wide strip of cloth sewn at the bottom of a pocket that you could tuck into your waistband.

Edit: aware of one existing solution but not a huge fan

I also fucking hate Apple, with the same seething rage that redhats hate Windows, and I too must admit this is shockingly effective security.

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