Stolen iPhone is in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; what can I do?

WakeUpMaggieMay Said:

"Stolen iPhone is in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; what can I do?: How many others has this happened to?! This is clearly an organized crime effort and the phone are being sent to this location. Is there anything to be done? I did file a police report."

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Thank you for the screenshot.

Troubleshooting an iPhone Sting:

If the police decide to follow through with it, then they will. As from your end, you should secure all of your account credentials. Read the following...

Secure your Info:

If concerned for device access, then (A)verify your devices, and (B)secure your account. Open a new eMail addressee d use that for your Apple ID.

1. Verify your Devices:

Verify that all devices are logged in to your account, by using this link: Check your Apple ID Device List to See where you're Signed in - Apple Support

then...

2. Modify your Credentials:

Having been stollen, someone lily has your credentials. So, by all means, modifying them.

• Modify: your login credentials (Using Both a New eMail and a New Password for each and all sites)
• Associate: a different method of payment to your account
• Enable: Two-Factor Authentication for Apple ID and for all other accounts that have such an applicable option

III. Report Items to Apple:

So, report phone call's and messages info to Apple and others. Use my User: Using the Photos App to Report Scams - User Tip

Pascoool Said:

"My iPhone 15 Pro Max, stolen in Paris. A few days in Marocco they tried to get my codes then Ghenzen Huafa south road. looks like a big organisation, many phones end there. Stolen by gipsies in Paris then Maghreb then China. International gangs I think as they did not manage to unblock it they are now going to get valuable parts for reconditioners. It should disappear very soon."

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Secure your info, and erase this device.

Hello~ Don’t remove it from your Apple ID or Find My. Click on below…

If your iPhone or iPad is lost or stolen - Apple Support

You will never see your iPhone again. That message is a scammer trying to get you to give them access to it.

~Katana-San~

Vivalasvegas123 Said:

"my phone was stolen in las vegas a week ago now it's in china, [...] it"

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Erase this:

Using Find My, erase the phone: Erase a Device in Find Devices on iCloud.com - Apple Support. Note that one is is erased, it is erased. No one can recover it --not even authorities.

Vivalasvegas123 Said:

"my phone was stolen in las vegas a week ago now it's in china, [...]it"

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Erase with Find My:

If you are confident you'll never get it back, then you should erase it with Find My.

I wonder if something like that is happening here?

No, it's not.

As mentioned multiple times in this thread, there is a well known huge remanufacturing plant in China that receives hundreds of used, stolen, etc phones every day.

iPhone thieves have found that is it much easier to sell a phone to a "fence"for $50 dollars than it is to try to sell a phone on the street or at a swap meet. There is very likely a "fence" at your local shopping mall. When they have accumulated 50 or 100 phones, the box is sent to freight forwarder.

Sometimes....a phone that was stolen on Monday might show up in China by the end of the week.

Now.....it is time to end this thread as the same things have already been repeated multiple times.

Hello! You can do several things. I see that you have traced the location of your iPhone in the FindMy App. That's good because from there you can mark your iPhone as lost. That way you will protect your data from being taken. Also you can erase your device but that way you will lose your information forever. If you have iCloud you can access all the information that is synced with your iCloud by going to the Apple website for iCloud ==> iCloud.

That's it. Hope this helps!



My iPhone 15 Pro Max, stolen in Paris. A few days in Marocco they tried to get my codes then Ghenzen Huafa south road.

looks like a big organisation, many phones end there.

Stolen by gipsies in Paris then Maghreb then China. International gangs I think as they did not manage to unblock it they are now going to get valuable parts for reconditioners. It should disappear very soon.

[Edited by Moderator]

My iPhone 13 Pro was stolen in Valencia Spain on 3/17/24, I was pick pocketed on the subway. I erased all data within 30 minutes but have used find my to track every few weeks. It first went to Madrid, then Morocco for a while and just showed up in Shenzhen China last week. I am sure this is an organized gang stealing these. Apple should make the phones where you can erase them and fry them so they are worthless to whomever stole them.

teh same happened to me. My iPhone 15 pro max was stolen from me on 3rd April 2024 while I was in London, at M&S located in Oxford st. Yesterday, I start receiving many text messages saying my iPhone has been jailbroken and that I should remove it from my apple devices. Then more messages telling me that my iPhone is in china and that my stolen iPhone is being recycled by them, a recycling company in China, and should I don’t remove it, they will sell it in the black market and all my information will be hacked.

I opened find my app and it shows my stolen iPhone in Shenzen. Before this and for over a month, I could see It was at Illford, UK.

as recommended by other iPhone users in this forum, I haven’t removed my stolen iPhone and I am not going to remove it.

here are the pics of the location of my stolen iPhone. First pic is of its current location and second pic is from the location it has been for over a month after it was stolen:

ohh and here are the last 2 messages I received from the Chinese “recycling” company :

As long as the battery holds out and the phone has an Internet connection, you can "see" it until the phone is disassembled in a few days.

Do NOT remove the phone from the list of devices using your Apple ID.

As we mentioned earlier in this thread, this is a huge remanufacturing plant that receives hundreds of phones each day and disassembles them for parts. Then, phones are remanufactured and resold to shady shops all over the world.

stephheg wrote:

@numan26 This happened to me too. Did you go to Shenzen??

I would not advise going to a place in a foreign country that appears to process hundreds of stolen phones, and from which electronic threats emanate including pictures of guns.

You might find that the guns were all too real if you confronted the criminals in person.

ssskyessn wrote:

I wish they’d go bust these rings since we literally have their locations!!

I suppose you could write to the Chinese Embassy in London, asking them to have Chinese authorities take action against the "chop shops."

London police wouldn't have jurisdiction to do anything about the "reprocessing" plants in China without Chinese help – just jurisdiction to try to do something about the thieves operating out of London.

I believe Apple is planning to bring Activation Lock to iPhone parts in some form. Maybe that will eventually help put a dent in this "reprocessing" "business".

My phone is in exactly the same location as the screenshot uploaded here. My phone was stolen from London 1st May 2024 at around 21:32pm in Central London next to 224 The Strand in London. It was stolen / snatched from my had by a boy dressed all in black riding and wearing a balaclava with a fast electric bicycle. First couple of days my phone was in Kilburn and Cricklewood in London and then 17th May 2024 my phone was in Shenzen. The location is approximately here in or around this building in Shenzhen.

广东省深圳市福田区南园街道 . Nanyuan Street, Futian District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province