Hacked

HI Chrissy,

ONLY MY THEORY-

You have been tricked/phished/scammed into divulging our Apple ID and Password. More than likely, you received a fake Apple email alerting you of a transaction and were presented with a link to click on and validate your Apple ID credentials. You, unknowingly clicked on it, thinking it was a legitimate email from Apple, and proceeded to log in to the fake Apple website and inadvertently provided the perpetrators with your official Apple ID and Password and a way to authenticate it. Once they had this information then they could do the things that you listed in your original post because they had access to your iCloud account and thus the photos, messages, and even add a (Probably Stolen) credit card to Apple Pay. Above all, to prevent you from making any account changes, they activated Screen Time Restrictions. That is my theory. You were not hacked however you were scammed.

Here is what you need to do if you have not already done so-

Take the necessary steps as listed and instructed in this article by Apple If you think your ➔ Apple ID has been compromised - Apple Support.

Here is some more reading to arm yourself with knowledge and information related to Phishing and Scamming schemes-

All about scams and phishing -

Beware of ➔ Phishing & Other Suspicious Emails 

Know how to ➔ Identify legitimate emails from the App Store or iTunes Store 

Avoid phishing emails, fake 'virus' alerts, phony support calls, and other scams ➔ Use these tips to avoid scams and learn what to do if you think your Apple ID has been compromised.

Hope this helps.

Axel F.

chrissy204 Said:

"Hacked: How did a credit card from China get on my phone? this is my 5th phone in 3mnths because they keeping putting a screentime password on my phone and changing my iCloud. Microsoft Engineers are investigating it as well. I have emails from them. The phone is hacked I’ll bet my life. When it lands remember I told you so. "

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Secure your Info - ASAP:

With Privacy & Security being of High-Concern here, consider performing the following for Apple and all other accounts, that have such options:

• Modify: your login credentials (opening a new eMail Account and using a never-before-used Password)
• Associate: a different method of payment to your account
• Enable: Two-factor authentication for Apple ID

Tips: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls - Apple Support 

An iPhone absolutely can be hacked. Statements here to the contrary are incorrect. Security attacks against iOS are a business, too. A profitable one.

That written, these attacks are more commonly password-based.

Re-used passwords are a common source of these attacks. Your email and password will be exposed in a server breach somewhere. Folks will then try that email and password everywhere else.

Another common path is phishing, fake messages and fake mail seeking to cause you to or to entice you into or to panic you into a log in on a fake portal or fake network service, and to expose your Apple ID. These are quite common. Big business, too.

More than a few folks here have yet to enable two-factor authentication, which makes these account take-over attacks easier.

There are other paths.

And yes, some can involve breaching iOS, though those attacks are rare and usually targeted.

If you’re associated with Microsoft as could be inferred here, absolutely work this through Microsoft security, as there re folks that do want to access the internal network and internal services of Microsoft. (But if you’re not somehow associated with Microsoft, I’d wonder if those conversations were not actually with Microsoft folks, but with folks seeking to socially engineering access.)

If you think your Apple ID has been compromised - Apple Support — reset your passwords to unique new passwords, and reset your passwords associated with email accounts that are associated with password reset requests, reset social media tokens and logins, and, well, unfortunately, pretty much everything with a password. Wresting back access after a breach is Not Fun. Also remove any VPN client apps and security apps that that you didn’t specifically add. (I’d likely wipe the iPhone and start over.)

chrissy204 Said:

"Hacked: I had a credit card from China an unknown email address and I know someone is in my phone iCloud is turned off they delete my pics and my phone get blazing hot. If 10,000 people are saying the same thing I don't understand how you can say iPhones cannot be hacked. How do I get the stuff off they keep putting screen time on my phone and changing password as well"

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Take Screenshots:

Reading everything you are reporting on here - one great idea: take screenshots of it all. Then, send it to Apple and whomever else necessary. Include the sender's information. Forward them off to Apple at: reportphishing@apple.com

Links:

• Take a screenshot on your iPhone - Apple Support
• Take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support

Mr. Hoffman-

I agree with your statement, "An iPhone absolutely can be hacked. Statements here to the contrary are incorrect. Security attacks against iOS are a business, too. A profitable one."

The way that I have responded to those posts / users claiming to be hacked is by informing them that there is always a possibility that an iPhone can be hacked however the odds with that successfully happening to an average user (me) are miniscule.

Axel F.

An iPhone can't be hacked but your credit could be.