An iPhone thief in the U.K. had the audacity to send a message to the phone’s original owner, requesting the iCloud details so they could access their account.
Psychology student Beth Freestone had her handset stolen on a night out in the city of Manchester. Several months later, she then received a message on Facebook from a person claiming to have found the iPhone — but wanting to know how to access its associated accounts.
“Hi, I hope you don’t mind me asking but I was given this phone that I believe you lost and I’m just using it for 2 weeks whilst mine is repaired but I am unable to use it without the password for iCloud is it possible to get it so I can sign out and into my own account,” the message read. “Thank you in advance xx.”
The apparently naive original owner of the iPhone didn’t send the password, but did agree to pay $6.60 (five British pounds) to cover the cost of sending the handset back — only for the thief to keep the money, fail to mail out the iPhone, and then block the device’s owner.
“I just thought she was so cheeky and I was stunned,” Freestone told U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail. “I wouldn’t even dream of asking someone that. I would have been asking if they would like me to send it back – not asking for passwords.”
Prior to blocking Freestone on Facebook, one heated message from the thief read: “Phoning the police would do f*** all because I haven’t stolen a phone so don’t try and threaten me and stop calling me off no caller ID it will cost you money when I’m away.”
On another occasion she wrote that: “It will get send [sic] when it gets sent its not a crime as I found it not stole it and am doing you a favour but if you continue to harass me it going in the bin so allow it.”
In a lesson for any iPhone owners out there, Freestone says she didn’t have the Find my iPhone feature activated on her device. The ability to track your iPhone via GPS was first introduced back in 2011, and should be a standard part of anyone’s iDevice security setup.
Source: Daily Mail
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Bold iPhone thief messages owner for iCloud password”
My daughter left her iPhone 4S in a taxi years ago and a couple of months later the person who found it and didn’t turn it in had the gall to do the same thing… call and ask for her iCloud password. These people have no souls.
wow ! shocking! dumb ^ infinity … but shocking nevertheless !!!!
As we move on into Dumbed Down society we can only expect this type of thing to go on more and more.