Text Scam? Lost/Recover Iphone

My sister lost her phone on Friday in South Florida. I somehow received the same text message 3 times today from that SAME PHONE NUMBER. I did not respond nor did i click on the link. The grammar from the text was terrible. So I called Apple and they said they do not do that sort of thing. They told me to go to the police and file a police report. The police said to block the number. I wonder how this is happening if you are on the other side of the country. I would really like to know who this person is.

Hi, I got the same exact text message today, but they sent it to the phone that was not stolen! I filed a police report last week regarding my missing phone, and ordered my replacement. Today my husband forwards me a text message sent to his phone inquiring about a lost iPhone and to log into the website to validate my apple ID and password. I called apple support because I had an odd feeling about the text and sure enough apple told me not to enter any information and contact apple loss prevention. Unfortunately for me, the LAPD is too busy to chase missing iPhone or possible hackers and I cant seem to find anything on apple's website regarding loss prevention. The phone number is the same as the ones mentioned above (213.712.8384) and the link validation.byethost7.com. I tried doing a phone number reversal look up and it turns out its not even an actual phone number, its a number registered through bandwidth.com

They sent the text to my phone (which wasn't stolen) because when we did the find my iPhone thing, we put my phone number in. The police here said that they'll do their best but we know that its most likely gone.

I put my number on the find my iPhone message thing that we sent to the phone. When i spoke to a representative at Apple, she transferred me to one of the supervisors (Celeste) and she helped me so much. She said that Apple does not send out those kinds of texts. And that they have been getting more calls about this type of situation and the reason they are probably texting us is because they can't unlock the phone unless they get our Apple information. She said just file the police report so that the serial number for your phone is in the database in case these ******** try to pawn the phone, the pawnshops are able to run serial numbers to see if its stolen. She also said in some cases the police have contacted apple when stolen phones are found so if the phone is stolen, always file the police report ASAP. What location were you at when you lost the phone? Restaurant? Mall? They stole my sister's phone out of her purse.

The same exact thing happened to me on August 7th/8th in Las Vegas. My phone was stolen out of my purse at Hakkasan night club and today my friend got the same text message ( I had used her # for Find my iPhone). I didn't login with my apple id because it seemed sketchy but I'm also wondering why I can't find anything online about this being a scam. Was your wife at Hakkasan when her phone was stolen? I filed a police report the next day and supposedly a large number of people had their phones stolen the same night.

You are all dealing with phishing scams where someone is trying to get your apple id info in order to bring up resale value of the stolen/lost iphone from 200 for activation locked to 600 dollars for unlocked. Please do yourself a favor and do not respond. Or if you do respond type something like "I am athe police station and they are triangulating your phone right now. Please stay in the same place." Apple does not have manpower or legal authority to track your phone.

Apple support is technical in nature and does not have police functions. Remember that if someone knows your apple id you are vulnerable, if they hack your account they can not only use it in itunes store, but also wipe all apple devices/computers that you have. Keep your passwords safe and change them if you exposed them to cons ASAP. Good luck to everyone here.

Did anybody get another text today from the same area code but different number? The number was (213) 454-0035. They sent the same message as the other number.

Yes, I listed my husbands number as the contact number on the find my iphone app. He received another message, same as the previous one but from a different number 213.454.0035

I got the same text from the same number as you did...

THANK YOU for posting this questions! My phone was stolen from Dria's in Las Vegas 3 nights ago. I just received this same text. 😠

I was at Hakkasan Aug 21/22. My sister and I both got our iphones stolen out of our purses and were not even together. Today both of us got the same text message from 323-391-7931. My sister verified and I did not. She called the apple people and the guy told her that the text is something that they send out. She explained that it had a grammatical error and he said it might be someone that used to work for apple that sent one really similar. He told her to change her apple id. My feeling is that these people are definitely professionals!

the beginning of the message was

Apple Device Recovery

Priority Code LV3-R3

Please verify Below

valdiation.byethost31.com

I will update if something happens!

My friend and I got it stolen out of purses on Aug 24 Sunday 2am at Marquee. I got the same message but from a different number (919)766-0906. Looks like they're changing numbers.

Marquee security were horrible saying we must've dropped it on the dance floor. Last location on my phone was at MGM Grand at 2:30am. Never stepped a foot near there.