The Wall Street Journal has recently published a detailed article covering a technique that thieves are using to steal not only people's iPhones, but also their savings.
The success of the attack is dependent on the thieves (often working in groups) learning not only physical access to the device but also the passcode — the short string of numbers that acts as a failsafe when TouchID or Face ID fails (or isn't used, for whatever reason).
With the passcode and the device, thieves are able to change the password associated with an Apple ID "within seconds", while also remotely logging out of any other connected Macs or iPads.
After that, the phone can be freely used to empty bank accounts using any installed financial apps before being sold. The article contains numerous examples of victims who have lost tens of thousands of dollars as a result of the scam.
How the iPhone passcode scam works?
According to the Journal, incidents have occurred in New York, Austin, Denver, Boston, Minneapolis, and London. The attack usually occurs on nights out when people's guards have been lowered by alcohol. Thieves typically observe people entering their passcodes (sometimes filming to ensure accuracy) and then steal the phone when the victim's guard is down.
“It’s just as simple as watching this person repeatedly punch their passcode into the phone,” Sergeant Robert Illetschko, lead investigator on a case in Minnesota where a criminal gang managed to steal nearly $300,000 via this technique, told the Journal. “There’s a lot of tricks to get the person to enter the code.”
According to the paper, in some cases, the criminals will first befriend the victim, convincing them to open a social media app. If the user has Face ID or TouchID, the criminal may borrow the phone to take a photo, then subtly restart it before returning it, as a freshly rebooted phone requires the passcode to be entered.
If a thief obtains your iPhone and passcode, your phone can be wiped and sold for a quick profit. However, the negative consequences multiply if you keep banking apps on there, and they become even worse if you keep other personal data on there.
Apple Card accounts have been opened in a couple of cases, according to the Journal. Given the amount of personal data required, that shouldn't be possible, but many people keep that on their phones as well. And Apple's technology can work against users in this case; for example, the ability to search for text within photos appears to have revealed one man's Social Security number.
Concerningly, the paper also claims that hardware security keys, which were introduced in iOS 16.3, did not prevent the passcode from changing the Apple ID password. Worse, the stolen passcode could be used to remove the hardware keys from the account.
“We sympathize with users who have had this experience and we take all attacks on our users very seriously, no matter how rare,” an Apple spokesperson said. “We will continue to advance the protections to help keep user accounts secure.”
The Journal notes that while Android phones aren’t immune to this kind of attack, law enforcement officials say that the higher resale value of iPhones makes them a far more common target.
What can you do to protect yourself from an iPhone passcode scam?
The first point to make is that you are significantly safer if you only use Face ID or Touch ID in public. This is due to the fact that the Apple ID password reset requires the passcode, and biometric logins will not suffice.
If you find yourself entering a passcode in public, cover your screen: you never know who is watching. Of course, this is useless if someone demands your passcode and iPhone at gun or knife point, as has been reported in some areas. However, if you create an Apple ID recovery key, the damage will be significantly reduced. This means that criminals won't be able to reset your password using the stolen passcode and will instead need a 28-character code.
While this may not prevent some short-term financial losses, the Journal reports that "most" banks and financial apps have refunded money stolen through such fraudulent activity.
It does have some disadvantages. If you forget your 28-character code, you're locked out for good, but at least your precious memories saved to iCloud won't be lost forever, as they were for one victim interviewed by the Journal.
“I go to my Photos app and scroll up, hoping to see familiar faces, photos of my dad and my family — they’re all gone,” said Reyhan Ayas, who had her iPhone 13 Pro Max snatched by a man she’d just met outside a bar in Manhattan. “Being told permanently that I’ve lost all of those memories has been very hard.”
