Stolen Phone

The same thing is happening to me... I was wondering the same thing - how do they have my phone number to text me these threats? I did mark my iphone in lost mode initially, but with a different family member's numbers, not mine, since I didn't not have my phone to answer the call if they did try to contact me. So I wonder how they got my number...

You are receiving scam messages that are trying to get you to release the lock on the phone, so the phone can be sold to another person.

Ignore those messages.

If you have not been able to erase the phone and the erase is still pending, responding to the messages will not allow you to erase the phone.

Your data is safe, since no one can access the data on your phone.

There is nothing that can guarantee that you still will not get this calls ... but these are typically scams.

The reason that the "erase" did not occur is that the thief cannot currently access the phone because it is activation locked. The phone will need to access the Internet in order to receive the erase signal. I strongly suggest that you do NOT remove this device from your Apple ID. Doing so, will deactivate Activation Lock and the thief will have a possibility to have full access to your phone.

I can't advise you on what you should do beyond changing your Apple ID password and any associated account passwords that you have set up on this phone. You should also contact your credit card providers to report the phone as stolen, as well as your cellular provider. You should also contact your local law enforcement agency to report the theft. Whether or not, you decide to give in to their "threats," of course, is up to you as I have no idea on what lengths they would take beyond making threats to be worth it to them.

You mentioned in your post that you enable "Lost Mode" for this phone. Did you include information (like your phone number) on how to contact you? If you did, that is how they got your number. Lost mode is designed for when you lose your phone, not if it is stolen. The idea behind this mode is for the finder of a lost phone to contact you in order for it to be returned. Obviously, not something you would want for a thief.

The bottom line? A nefarious character can gather information about you (not just your phone number) from many sources on the Internet ... NOT just from a stolen compromised iPhone.

For example, every time you create a new account, for example, on any commerce site, that data is not necessarily kept by the site itself. It is not uncommon from them to sell your data, or worse, have a data breach to expose that information to just about anyone.

Hello Tesserax,

hope you don't mind if I ask on a year old post.

When you say "the thief will have a possibility to have full access to your phone" I presume you mean that he still won't have access to the data, right? But he will be able to reset it (that will erase all data) and setup as new phone and sell.

I want to download app