Q: My devices have been hacked. What do I do?

    Hey bro, I didnt mean to. I'm new here. I'm reading all these replies telling me I mustve been derelict in  locking and enabling my protective apps.

Frank Kirkland Santoyo

My iphone 4 has been hacked too. Someone put a few weird pictures of a person I dont know as though I had taken them, while I was at home watching my five year old. Was hoping that was the end of it. But then someone used my credit card info 8/8/14 and the next day I started getting spam ads texted to me. So sad . I'm going to try to restart it and restore factory settings. I hope I dont need to change my phone number too!

Your iPhone hasn't been hacked. Most likely, your Apple ID has been hacked. (Was the credit card purchase done through the iTunes or App Stores? If so, check your purchase history.)

For information on handling a hacked Apple ID, see:

What to do if your Apple ID has been hacked?

(Fair disclosure: The Safe Mac is my site, and contains a Donate button, so I may receive compensation for providing links to The Safe Mac. Donations are not required.)

No, Staples, 99 cent store and a hamburger place

attylamb wrote:

 

No, Staples, 99 cent store and a hamburger place

Then that is almost certainly a separate and unrelated issue, only coincidentally timed.

So, ICloud has been hacked. The hacker used this info to change 2 devices to a different ICloud account. Now the devices state that they have been reported as lost and erased. Now the devices require this other persons ICloud info to get into. Apple has been shown proof that the devices belong to me, but they state that there is nothing they can do. How is it possible that Apple doesn't have a way to completely wipe a device?

Have you contact Apple's Account Security Team? Apple ID: Contacting Apple for help with Apple ID account security. What is the nature of your proof? The only proof they will accept is a receipt showing that you are the first owner (you did not buy it used).

If the "proof" you provided was something other than proof of purchase from an authorized distributor, then you did not provide "proof" at all.

Your iCloud account was compromised and the password for your account was changed. You need to do as Lawrence suggests and contact Apple and speak to someone in account security to prove ownership of the account they are locked with.

Thinking about this...You cannot change the iCloud account that an iPhone is associated with, unless you have possession of the phone. You CAN change the Apple ID for that account, and the password, but it is still the original account. So all that needs to be done is to recover the account via the account security team. To hack your account, however, whoever did it needed your Apple ID, your password, and the answers to your security questions. That should narrow down the suspects considerably.

And also access to the email account that you used to register the Apple ID (it's different from your Apple ID email), as a confirmation would have been sent to that address.

AApple was contacted by phone and thought the local store. Proof was shown by use of the purchase from the carrier that is used on it.

Proof was the use of documentation from the carrier that the phone was obtained from. Apple Store already agree that it was fraud that caused the device to be locked out. BUT, they state there is no means for them to erase the Apple ID that the hacker put on it.

That is nice but have you actually spoken to the Account Security Team?

If I understand you, your saying that the Apple ID can not be changed on the device, without it being phisically in a persons hands? the HACKING involved a paypal account, a laptop, an iPad mini and an iPhone 5s. I'm sure I would have noticed someone messing with all of those devices.

One of the problems is that the hacker seems to have deleted the Apple ID I had too. Apple is unable to pull up any info reguarding the original Apple id.

There is no way to delete an Apple ID.