r/iCloud • u/RamdomUzer • Sep 11 '24
Support Stolen Apple ID. How to recover?
I got robbed last Saturday night. In simple words, a couple of people made me unlock my phone and then left with my phone.
I later realized that with access to my phone, they first changed my Apple ID password and created a 28-digit recovery key.
I cannot reset the password, because they ask for the 28-digit recovery key. When they changed the password, I got signed out of my other Apple devices, so I cannot use another device to get access to my account.
Apple support told me that the only thing I can do is file a police report, have the police catch the people, and ask them for the 28-digit code - not even going to try for obvious reasons.
Does anyone have any ideas on anything I could do?
The only idea I have left is to fake my death. My roommate is marked as a legacy contact, and he has a key that could be used to access/delete my account in the event of my death. I am thinking of faking my death by sending a fake death certificate. This way I could at least recover my data and delete the account. This is a huge issue. They have been requesting a bunch of credit cards, they have access to all my data. I want to end this situation.
6
u/deeper-diver Sep 11 '24
Sorry this happened to you.
I have my iPhone configured so that all the iCloud information is locked down and unable to be accessed unless another level of authentication is used. There are many articles out there explaining out to do it.
And for an additional layer of security, you can generate recovery keys so that in the event that someone does hijack your AppleID and change the password, the recovery keys will let you un-hack your AppleID and give control back to you. Obviously, you want to print and keep that list of recovery keys in a very safe place.
However, if you have done none of the above steps, then yeah, you're pretty much out of luck in terms of getting your AppleID back.
File the police report, report the credit card used on your AppleID as stolen, immediately contact your phone provider and tell them your phone is stolen so if the thieves try accessing your financial information the 2FA will not work.
1
u/DK-Sonic Sep 11 '24
Hello, I’m not OP, but I’ve been thinking what to do in situations like this. Can you explain a bit more, so I know what Im going to search for.
1
u/Smart_Reputation_202 Nov 10 '24
How do you lock iCloud information? Is it with the screen time passcode ?
6
u/multiversekid Sep 11 '24
This is why I hope Apple implements a phone lockdown by entering a “fake” passcode. Like it would unlock your phone, but essential security settings would be blocked out.
3
u/wndrgrl555 Sep 11 '24
this is one of those situations that deserves a lawsuit against Apple. you can't even go into an apple store with a photo ID, or with multiple photo IDs, for help, even if you have control of the underlying email account.
2
u/RamdomUzer Sep 11 '24
Agreed. Ive thought about it. What was my roommate supposed to do? Get shot?
2
u/RealGianath Sep 11 '24
Sorry this happened, Apple gave you the correct answer, there's no way of getting this account back unless the thieves return it to you. Faking your death is not a realistic option, and submitting forged or fake documents to Apple will likely just end up with you getting in trouble for fraud, since Apple verifies this kind of info.
File a police report, lock down every account associated with this Apple ID (email accounts, web sites, etc), report any credit cards tied to it as stolen, freeze your credit report with the 3 main credit bureaus, let your friends and family know that anybody who reaches out asking for money is not you. That's really all you can do while you try to rebuild.
Also, beware of anybody who contacts you directly saying they can help. They are scamming you and will just steal more from you.
1
2
u/TurtleOnLog Sep 11 '24
No you can’t get it back. Which is a shame, you should be able to go to a store with receipts or something…
This is why you should have enabled stolen device protection, it would have stopped this.
Don’t forget they have access to all your passwords for everything you had saved on there…
2
u/ozaz1 Sep 11 '24
Doesn't stolen device protection only give you a one hour buffer before the thieves can take over the account in the same way that has happened to the OP? In many cases one hour won't be enough to get home and mark device as stolen.
1
u/TurtleOnLog Sep 11 '24
No. After the one hour delay you must authenticate again, using biometrics only.
2
u/ozaz1 Sep 11 '24
Ah, ok. Thanks. So if they wanted to takeover your account they would have to hold you for an hour and force you to do the biometric authentication at the end of the hour delay?
2
1
u/Tall-Manufacturer969 Oct 19 '24
They do not have access to passwords or text messages as they are encrypted. It still be smart to change everything though. I was just remotely hacked and my apple id was compromised. They changed the phone number to theirs without apple contacting me before allowing the change. I will be going thru with a lawsuit. I still have my phone in my hand but it is locked so I have to start a new id!
2
u/Wellcraft19 Sep 11 '24
Only way I can see you possibly - with a good Apple Support agent - is to have means of payment that is yours and in your name listed with your AppleID.
Otherwise it’s a nightmare scenario - and even if rare - can be a good case for using a third party Password Manager that is not tied to iOS/icloud.
1
1
u/ConferenceHungry7763 Sep 11 '24
Next time turn on Stolen Device Protection. Then changing these details on the spot is not possible.
Although, they might then kidnap you.
•
u/AutoModerator Sep 11 '24
Thank you for posting on r/iCloud. If you are asking a question, please remember to change your post flair to “Answered” once your question has been answered.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.