Criminals in Brazil have been stealing mobile phones for iPhone so as not to sell them but to infiltrate people’s banking details and steal their money, according to a report released last month.
These criminals were not uncommon. They can steal money from people’s accounts within hours of stealing their iPhone devices.
Such cases have seen a dramatic increase, especially after the onset of the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
Now, another news report, originally published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, claims that the police understand how the thieves were able to access people’s banking information on their Apple devices.
Sao Paulo police have arrested one of the gangs that attacked the smartphone-related robberies, and a member even admitted that he could “unlock all iPhone phones, from 5 to 11”.
Fabiano Barbeiro, Sao Paulo’s Chief Police Officer, said the thieves needed only one tool to steal money, and that was an iPhone SIM card.
How did they do it?
The 9to5Mac report described the operation of these criminals. He said the thieves would take the SIM card from the stolen iPhone and insert it into another phone.
They will then be able to access the owner’s social media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram, to get the email ID used.
In most cases, as already noted, the same email would be used for Apple IDs as well. Finally, they would reset the Apple ID password using the victim’s phone number.
Everything was easier after this. Barbeiro says all the criminals had to do now was to get passwords by looking at the Notes app because many users seem to be keeping bank and credit card passwords there.
Besides, once criminals have access to an iCloud account, they can recover all passwords in the iCloud Keychain.
The 22-year-old suspect, a computer expert, told police he knew at least three other people who teach criminals interested in finding passwords on stolen smartphones. Police, so far, have arrested 12 people and identified 28 others for smartphone theft.
Following the publication of a previous report, Apple reportedly promised Folha de S.Paulo that it would be easier for users to delete all data on a stolen iPhone. With iOS 15, users will finally be able to track an iPhone enabled using Find My App.
