{"id":642918,"date":"2026-05-14T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642918\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:01:12","slug":"iphone-thieves-can-get-up-to-800-more-if-they-snatch-unlocked-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642918\/","title":{"rendered":"iPhone thieves can get up to $800 more if they snatch unlocked devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"iPhone<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been an epidemic in the past few years of iPhone<\/a> thieves using scooters and electric bikes to snatch devices from the hands of their owners while they\u2019re walking down the street.<\/p>\n

The reason this is the method of choice for thieves is because it enables them to grab an unlocked iPhone, which can be worth $800 more to them than a locked one \u2026<\/p>\n

Industrial-scale phone snatching<\/p>\n

A report last year said that the use of stolen scooters and e-bikes to snatch phones on the streets had reached an \u201cindustrial scale.\u201d One Met Police crackdown<\/a> in London saw 230 people arrested and more than a thousand phones recovered in the space of just one week.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem was that safety concerns had initially led police to discontinue pursuits when the risks to the thieves was considered too high. In the UK, a decision was taken to reverse this position and to allow officers to use \u201ctactical contact\u201d to knock them off their bikes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Unlocked iPhones worth up to $800 more<\/p>\n

A Wired<\/a> report says that unlocked phones attract a very substantial premium because they facilitate access to data and financial accounts. Although banking and other financial apps should require Face ID or a passcode to access, phishing attempts can be made in order to obtain logins.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhone thieves don\u2019t just want the handset\u2014they want access to bank accounts and personal information,\u201d says Will Lyne, the head of economic and cybercrime at London\u2019s Metropolitan Police. Lyne highlights one case of four men who had been caught handling more than 5,000 stolen phones and spending money from financial accounts on the devices.<\/p>\n

Dan Guido, the CEO and cofounder of security firm Trail of Bits and a strategic adviser to mobile security firm iVerify, says a stolen phone may only be worth $50 to $200 when it is locked. \u201cBut if you unlock it, it\u2019s worth $500, or it\u2019s worth $1,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

One law enforcement professional had their iPhone stolen and they received a phishing message which mimicked the Apple Find My page and asked for the phone\u2019s passcode. When someone falls for this, it allows the buyer of a stolen iPhone to remove Activation Lock and sell it as a working device.<\/p>\n

The illegal trade is assisted by sophisticated phishing software sold on a pay-per-use model.<\/p>\n

Phishing kits referred to as \u201cFind My iPhone Off\u201d that can be used to access accounts; and scripts and AI voice calling software to run the phishing operations [\u2026]<\/p>\n

A video obtained by the researchers shows software called iRealm generating phishing links and pages mimicking Apple services. Other posts linked to iRealm mention features such as \u201cFind My iPhone nullified,\u201d advertise \u201cscripts\u201d that mention Apple Pay, and say the software can provide a \u201cseamless experience\u201d for \u201caccessing and unlocking Apple devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of these services are offered through Telegram channels. After the company was contacted, they removed half a dozen groups advertising these services.<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Jon RV<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been an epidemic in the past few years of iPhone thieves using scooters and electric bikes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":["post-642918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}