This new scam locks people out of their iPhones, laptops, etc., and steals thousands of dollars. It just happened in HNL
Last edited Sun Jan 5, 2025, 06:27 PM - Edit history (3)
**New scam—this is very long, but please read.** (hot tips at the very end for those among us who can't.)
Happened to a person in my community, not me. Then we learned of others. Very sophisticated. Dont fall for it! She wrote:
"On New Year’s Day, I received a call that resulted in my Apple ID being stolen. My phone, laptop, and Apple Watch were wiped and locked.
I am still getting everything in order and want to warn everybody about this. The people at Apple and Verizon had never dealt with this before, and I suspect this scam will be happening more frequently.
I have an Apple MasterCard, and on New Year’s Day, received a flag for a suspicious charge of around $13,000 at Home Depot in Florida. I declined the transaction, then received a text saying that an agent would be contacting me about the charges.
My phone rang immediately, and I questioned the caller because Apple doesn’t call customers. The person I spoke to said that they wanted to secure my account as soon as possible, then began reading a list of credit card transactions over the past several days to verify them.
The transactions were legit, and I confirmed them. Later I realized this meant they had hacked my Mastercard account before contacting me.
I was also told that there was another attempt for around $15,000 for a cruise.
The person on the phone gave me a case number and said my card would be cancelled, so I would be getting a new one in 5-7 days. While this was happening, I was receiving texts and emails from Apple explaining everything. They looked legit and also contained the case number.
I was then told that my Apple account had been temporarily frozen to protect my information, and it was necessary to reset my password. The person I spoke to gave me a temporary password, which I would then change to my own. This is where they got me.
I have been locked out of other accounts before, and customer service has done exactly this: provided a temporary password that I would immediately change. However, after I was prompted to use the temporary password, I was next told to delink my Apple Mastercard and my Apple wallet from my bank account.
Concerned about my password, I was attempting to change it while this person was telling me to move forward with the next step in the process. The password change wasn’t working, which was the big tip-off.
The person on the line said I needed to go to my bank account and move funds from my savings to checking, and that’s when I said no and asked for a name and number that I could use to verify with Apple. I started to get a reply, but was quickly hung up on.
I immediately called my bank to freeze my account. Then while I was contacting the first credit card company, my phone went black and my laptop shut down. Both were wiped, as was my Apple Watch. They were inoperable and I had no way of dialing out or accessing the Internet.
As it turned out, after the hackers changed my password, they used my Apple ID to go to my Apple Wallet and access my checking account. They withdrew a large portion of money, and I’ve filed a fraud claim. If the investigation turns out to be in my favor, I’ll receive back what was stolen.
If you get hit or know someone who does, here are my recommendations.
First, out of some miracle, my iPad survived being wiped. I have a feeling it’s because I never activated the Find My iPad setting. Through my iPad, I can access my passwords and contacts. So maybe consider doing something similar. The iPad has made all the difference in the world as far as the degree of damage and ease of recovery.
The best thing to do is go to the police before anything else and file a report. Because I didn’t have access to my phone number, phone, or email, I couldn’t freeze my credit cards because they all required two-factor authentication involving texts and emails. The police report might be useful if you encounter obstacles and the companies say they can’t help you.
Next, go to your phone carrier. Verizon was able to reactivate my phone.
The Apple account is a different story. Apple says I can’t recover it. Supposedly the problem is that the hackers changed the phone number. I was told that my only option was to create a new Apple ID. This means that everything under my old Apple account/iCloud is no longer accessible. I can’t transfer it in any way. Again, because my iPad was not wiped, I can access some but not all of what I need, and my pictures are still visible.
A few scary things: Nobody at Apple or Verizon had seen this scam before and were shocked at the complexity of what happened. Second, at the Apple store, the three people immediately around me had also been hacked. There was also a woman outside who had been scammed. At Verizon, the customer service agent said that two people had already come in after being hacked.
The hackers know New Year’s Day is ideal for these scams because the banks are closed. I had to conduct most of the recovery on January 2.
So please be careful. The world we live in is a different place now and more precaution than ever is important."
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In case it may also help, in addition to not changing your password when 'tech support" calls, my tech savvy bestie says two easy
best practices to save yourself grief are:
1. contact Apple directly yourself to verify. (This reminder is from Skittles!)
2.change your passwords, ideally login name too, every 6 months or so
3. don't re-use passwords.
With so many hacks and such advances in tech used by creeps, it is common for hacked login credentials to sit out there on the dark web post-compromise for months or even years, till some baddie decides to launch a mass attack and gets a lot of folks at once. None of us need this. I wouldn't wish it on Mike Johnson, even. I'm off to change my DU password, and others, right now. Upper case, lower case, number, symbols, and longer passwords help a lot too. Cheers!
= new reply since forum marked as read
A few weeks ago someone posted a story about how some guys crypto accounts were hacked & one guy lost half a mil & the other millions. Both fell for an urgent phone call from customer service. Always call the company back yourself. Use the phone number on the back of your credit card or look the company up on the internet. NEVER use a link they send you. Or a phone number.
Some helpful graphics.
than Microsoft software, but because hackers mostly target Microsoft's larger user base, you rarely hear of the Apple vulnerabilities. Microsoft has a much larger user base than Apple.
Did you know that the majority of Apple users are Republican / Conservatives?
Apple Fanboys are the worst.
I've been through a little of that on a much a smaller scale. It's left me super cautious.. And, with a Kauai Computer Contract on my laptop.
Best of Good Luck to you getting All your Money back and future Non Scamming!
Before I got very far in your post I handed it to my husband to read. He is my tech support — and I think if he had enough hair left it would have been standing on end.
I don’t have any of Apple’s offers to be my banker, credit card, wallet, or payment processor turned on — but there is a perpetual notice that I have “not finished setting up” my iPhone and iPad.
Except — we just got me a new iPhone several weeks ago in anticipation of the Trump Tariffs in 2025. And I think — in fact I am pretty damn sure — that all the installations for the phone automated the permission process and ended up tweaking my iPad settings, because both devices just now showed that everything to do with Apple banking was turned ON. 🤬🤬🤬
Thanks to you, the stuff I wanted no part of is now OFF, plus “find my iPad”. .
I am so sorry this happened to you. It’s just evil.
I made note of the name, called the bank and they transferred me to the person, which told me it was a legit call......it is NOT hard to do! 
I think I was programmed from day one to not trust anyone.
Reading about these cases of sexual harassment, for example - fuck that noise, any guy who ever "touched me inappropriately" paid for it IMMEDIATELY, I didn't tolerate that shit for one second. And that INCLUDED when I was in the military IN THE 70's! I have to remind myself that not all women are like me.....
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP RECOMMENDING THIS! It's unsourced, and reads like an urban legend: "My friend had this happen on New Year's Day!" is hearsay at best and spreading false information at worse. I'm a librarian and have tried to find anything in the news or on various Apple support websites and haven't found doodley-squat indicating this ever really happened. You'd think if it was really true, Apple would be warning their own customers about it.
Geesh, DU. I thought we were critical thinkers. I can't believe this baseless rumor has 93 recs as I type this. 
