The iPhone users mostly say that the feature that makes iPhone different and special from all the other phones is the ‘Find My iPhone,’ which effectively allows the iOS user to find their devices when they are lost or missing. With this feature, the iPhone, which is lost, tends to play a sound or display a message. It is the feature that helps in locking the iPhone and also remotely wiping off the contents in it so that whoever is the thief won’t get any access to the data on the iPhone.
Though we admire the feature of ‘Find my iPhone’ as an amazing way to find your lost device and also to keep it safe from the unauthorized access to the important information on the iPhone. But unfortunately, the scammers have again found the way to misuse this feature for satisfying their selfish motives.
Sadly, the hackers and scammers have started using this feature of the iPhone for locking out the authorized user from accessing his information on his own iPhone. The scammers are using this means in the way of conducting ransomware, finding a way to extort money out of the iPhone users. Let’s take a deeper lock on what is this kind of spam and how you can work on avoiding it.
What is the iPhone Lock Scam?
If you are simply using your iPhone without even thinking if your data is safe or not, it’s time to get aware of the things that can go wrong without even you getting any knowledge about it. One of the serious issues that could make you bother is the iPhone Lock Scam.
In such conditions, the hacker is able to get access to your iCloud account, and with the help of Find My iPhone feature, the hacker would lock your device. When your iPhone is remotely locked, you won’t be able to access your own device and would not be able to unlock it to find your information on it. The hacker would then use this situation as a way to extort money out of you in the form of ransomware.
Learn How the iPhone Lock Scam Works
The attack of the iPhone Lock Scam begins when the scammers are able to compromise the iCloud security and get able to log into your iCloud account. After this, the scammer logs in the Find My iPhone website with the help of your iCloud username and password, which he has cracked. After this, the hacker would be issuing a remote lock command through which that particular iPhone is set in the lost mode. He then locks it with a 4-digit PIN through which he displays the ransom message on the lock screen of the phone.
This is how the legitimate user is told to pay the ransom amount to get the code in return through which the user will be able to unlock his phone.
Thus, the complete pattern from scammer accessing the iCloud account to locking the user’s device is nothing but a ransomware attack in which the hacker is restricting the authenticated user from accessing the data on his own iPhone.
Scammers of iPhone Lock Finding the Victims
Just like other attacks, all of this begins by the scammers able to crack the login credentials of the iPhone user. Just like the other hackers try to log in into the device of the legitimate user, the same way the iPhone Lock scammers try to find out the user’s credentials to log into the iCloud account. But the question is how they find the victim?
Somehow the user is the one responsible for being the victim of the iPhone Data Recovery. Mostly the scammers keep an eye on the different iPhone users and are successfully able to exploit the details of the user who make use of the same login credentials always or have the multiple accounts associated with the same username and password. Using the same password for a long time makes it easy for hackers to trace them. This is why it is recommended that one should frequently keep changing the password and set a complex password every time, which is a combination of alphanumeric.
Not only this but sometimes the scammers are also able to find+ the victims with the help of ransomware, which is a Trojan Horse-style malware through which they end up hijacking the device of the person. The scammer could also do the same with a key logger virus.
How can you avoid being the victim of the iPhone Lock Scam?
After reading it all, you can very well understand the serious and severity of iPhone Lock scam. It does not just lock the legitimate user from accessing his own iPhone but also gets trapped in the ransomware attack, where he is threatened to pay the ransom money to get back the access of the iPhone.
No wonder if you are an iPhone user then it might worry you a bit. But you can’t stop the scammers from making their evil attempts. What you can actually do is to shut down the loopholes available that the scammers might use to crack your login credentials and get a hold on your device. No one would ever want to be a ransomware victim or someone getting access to their personal and sensitive information. To ensure this never happens, it is necessary that the users should be aware of different aspects to make sure their data on the iPhone remains safe, and some other person doesn’t get to access that illegitimately.
So, in order to make sure you stay safe from the scammers who might lock your iPhone down, it is essential that you keep following certain helpful tips to prevent your iPhone and the data on it. This is where you can consider following the below-mentioned tips:
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Have a strong and complex password
The complete iPhone Lock scam begins with the scammers trying to get access to your iCloud account by breaking the credentials. This is where the attack depends on how secure your iCloud account is. Thus what you need to focus on is to enhance the safety of your iCloud account by setting a complex and strong password. Hackers require a valid iCloud login and password to conduct a compromise with the account of the legitimate user. It is where it becomes highly crucial to set a strong password, which is not easy to be cracked by the scammers.
Considering this scenario, you can think about setting the password, which is a combination of uppercase letters, numbers, lowercase letters, and special characters. The longer and random password makes it a better one which is more difficult to be cracked. Thus we can say that having a strong password is the first and one of the effective ways to secure our data.
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Enable your passcode lock on your iPhone
If you have set a strong password, then it’s quite good, but you should know that only doing so will not help in securing your data from the scammers. You need to work more to ensure complete data protection. This is where it becomes important to consider the measure of setting a PIN passcode that locks your iPhone before any scammer locks you out from accessing your data.
The Find My iPhone app only provides the hacker with the ability to create a PIN only in the case if the phone is not already having one. So, in case you have already enabled your device lock PIN, then the hacker won’t be able to replace the PIN with any other PIN through which they can lock the device and ask for ransom. So, if you are already having the PIN enabled on your iPhone, this means that your device is already safe from the attempts of the hackers to lock your iPhone down.
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Take the feature of two-factor authentication seriously
Another effective way through which you can enhance the security of your iPhone is by following the means through which the device of the victim stay prevented from any attempts of the device lock ransom scam by any scammer, which can be effectively done by the feature of two-factor authentication. Apple gives this amazing feature to add an additional layer of security, but sadly most people aren’t even aware of this amazing aspect.
In this step, you’ll need an additional 4-digit code when there’s any attempt to login to the account to make any changes to the Apple ID for making use of different iPhone Data Recovery Service Singapore. This particular code is sent through SMS or Find My iPhone, which effectively adds another layer of security to your account.
The threat of iPhone lock scams is a serious concern, and even the slightest negligence of the user can end up causing a lockout from the iPhone when the legitimate user won’t be able to access his data. All he would find is the message to pay the ransom. It is essential that more and more iPhone users should be aware of this attack and thus follow the needed security measures to prevent your device from being locked.
