At least once a week, a desperate cry from the heart appears on the iPhones.ru Forum. I quote one of the recent ones:
Deciding to help people, I entered their iCloud into my phone, they made it lost. Is there a way to get the phone back?
This scam is at least five years old, but it is still effective.
How it works, why you shouldn’t ensure iCloud and Apple ID activation, and what you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation – I’ll tell you below.
How to scam people on Telegram with iCloud lock
Most of the messages are the same. The girl asks for help in some chat room, Telegram and other public communication channels:
Help, I need to activate iCloud on iPhone, it doesn’t work on mine…
If you respond to this message, then most likely they will start writing you in private messages with details of the situation. The story can be anything, most often “tearful”. The first result: you request someone else’s iCloud account login Settings your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Once you do this, the owner of this account will lock your device remotely through the service. Locator. A message about a lost device appears on the screen, which often entails the amount of the paid sum. It is impossible to use the gadget in any way.
The amount of the “ransom” depends on the impudence of the fraudster, it is at least several thousand rubles. There are no guarantees that the devices will actually be unlocked after the broadcast.
What to Do If Your iPhone Has Blocked Someone Via iCloud
The device with someone else’s iCloud becomes part of this account. done, it is more not yours – and your options for correcting the situation are severely limited.
It’s best to do it right away Call Apple Technical Support. Yes, it still works in Russia – but you need to get there between 10am and 6pm Moscow time and wait for a response:
▪ Apple Russia technical support phone number: +7 (800) 555-67-34
▪ Apple technical support site: https://support.apple.com/ru-ru/contact
If your iPhone is locked, remember to remove the SIM card and insert it into another device to stay connected.
Most likely, the support service will ask you documentsconfirming the fact of purchase of the blocked device. In this box there is a serial number on it, a receipt of purchase. Having sent them, it was necessary to wait for support of the solution up to 1 week.
If you don’t have any of the above, then, alas, you there is none left other options than trying to negotiate with the scammer.
Reset device in this situation nothing will help, since it now makes a decision on someone else’s Apple ID and without unlinking on Apple servers it will still “belong” to the fraudster.
Moral
Never help anyone with iCloud and Apple ID activation. And never enter someone else’s Apple ID or iCloud anywhere, from a browser to Settings your Apple device.
I thought that this type of “divorce” died out a few years ago. But since such complaints and situations are still being registered in 2024, we consider it necessary to return to you. And you, in turn, will notify your relatives about this, as well as your children who use Apple gadgets.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
