Q: My iMessage has been hacked

Has anyone gotten anywhere with what this is and has Apple addressed the issue? 

I used Google Translate to try and make sense of some of the text (my wifes phone sent out 102 of these today between 5pm and 7pm).  I got three words to translate that made any sense "Prada, Chanel, and Hermes".  I am guessing this is some sort of spam mail hack and the originator of the message is using our service to send out spam messages to Chinese phone numbers (I say Chinese because the world code at the beginning of all 102 different numbers on my wifes phone are +86).

If anyone knows anything, please let us know.

-AF-

I am having this exact same problem. The only way I could get it to stop is to turn off my iMessage, which is not a solution to the problem. I am also worried about a security breech as I have a lot of personal info on my phone. Did anyone ever find a solution to this other than changing your password?

Hi,

Are you saying that changing your password does not work ?

If you login to your Apple ID at Apple can you see the list of connected devices ?

9:35 pm      Thursday; July 28, 2016

I just experienced this issue. I got a notification my iMessage account was being used on an iPod in China and I only recently noticed the text messages that were sent (about 10 or so), all looking exactly like yours.

I changed my password immediately and enabled the two-step verification process. Should I be worried about my other information used on my devices (credit card info, etc)?

Same here

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E8F447D2-7DA5-493E-946F-CEB2EF8DB823

Hi,

The iMessages Server is separate from the others (iCloud, FaceTime, Photos, iTunes, iBooks).

Having said that often the same ID is used in all of these places.

iTunes, iBooks and the App Store have access to the payment method you set up even if you only ever buy iTunes Cards and redeem those.

If they have access to the iMessages ID and Password then they will have access to look at your Apple ID account for that.

This is likely to show some of the info.

The devices sections is likely to show the "extra" iPod.

It is more likely using the Apple ID than the iPhone Number although the iPhone Number does not use a Password.

Whilst the messages appear to be ads in Chinese aimed at Chinese readers the whole thing could be a scam to phish details from the non Chinese owner of the account.

This could be a falling house of cards scenario but those that have posted only seem concerned about the iMessages.

7:30 pm      Saturday; July 30, 2016

I am very concerned about this being more than just a scam to send out advertisements. I made sure to change my passwords immediately for all accounts such as banking, email, gmail, etc. An apple support tech also told me the best way to make sure you don't have any further security issues is to do a factory reset of the phone without restoring from any backup afterwards to make sure you keep a clean installation on the device (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252).

Does anyone know of any other ways to tell whether I should be worried about any other personal details being obtained?

Hi,

The simple answer to that is no.

We have no way of knowing how you use your iPhone and what details you keep on it.

iMessages logs in from iPhones, Macs and iPads and iPod Touches.

These are Device Specific using the Serial Number of the Device.

The device used for the Chinese messages should be listed on the Apple ID site once you have logged in.

That and the fact people are seeing it as another device shows that they have your Apple ID and Password at least.

If your iPad and iPhone Backups are in the Cloud then they may have more info.

If it is the same Apple ID you use in iCloud  and you use that for Mail and Sync Contacts  then they would have access to that.

If the Contacts had plain text info about your Bank details ...

Mail connected to IMAP servers will show them everything not just the "new" stuff.  (Unless you purposely delete older stuff).

POP will depend on all the devices accessing it being set to Leave Messages on Server.

7:57 pm      Sunday; July 31, 2016

This just happened to me. I changed my password and noticed there were 5 different text messages that were sent to and from my email. It has stopped and hopefully it wont happen again.

I just had the same thing happen to me, only there were no "ipod" devices shown as logged in or associated with my itunes account.  I didnt change my password immediately because i didnt see any of these devices so it appears that they only accessed imessage via my email and my phone number.  It is a work phone/cell and doesnt appear that they logged into my icloud either.  I'm concerned because someone was sending messages from either my email or phone number to china, but apple didnt show anything anywhere of this ipod device on my account.

Hi,

To send an iMessage from the iPod they need your Apple ID and Password.

That in turn will add the iPhone number to the "Receive At" pool as soon as they ad the Apple to the Messages app.

Having both Password and ID they have access to the Apple ID site.

Your Security Questions are likely to block them from further egress.

That said Social Media Pictures may show "First Car" items and possible Locations for "where your parents met".

That might give them access to be able to remove the Device after they have used your account

Read this http://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/phishing/

Change your Password.

Change your Security Questions.

8:56 pm      Friday; August 12, 2016

yeah i changed my password and set up 2 step authentication, however, my account never showed this device anywhere while it was sending 2 imessages per minute for almost 4 hours.  If you use the ipod to only log into imessage it doesnt appear to show the device anywhere on your account until you use itunes or icloud (which this person clearly did not).... but not imessage, and im unsure if facetime will show devices.  Either way apple may want to consider adding ANY device that has access to ANY of the services that use your appleID so that it shows up under your account.  Just a thought.   Once i changed my password the imessage barrage stopped.  Should have done it once i had the ability to, but since i never saw that device added to my account I chalked it up to an inadvertent apple message.

Ummm,

I use one Apple ID in iCloud and another in iTunes and Messages (and FaceTime).

AS you say the iTunes Account listings of associated devices is different from those on the Apple ID site  (My iTunes listed an iPhone 4S that I removed from iMessages some while ago - that also removed it form Apple ID).

It does seem that the Apple ID does not show all devices as you would expect.

Glad to hear you appear to have control of your account back.

8:17 pm      Saturday; August 13, 2016

A very similar thing happened to me. Somebody logged into my imessage from an iMac and a Macmini (which I dont have) to send $19.99 RayBan spam to approximately 100 US numbers. I think it is the same virus/malware that you encountered. I have an iphone with ios 9.3.5 and an iPad with 9.3.4. 

I immediately changed password and security questions, plus I disabled imessage and didnt activate it again.

There was no trace of these iMac and Macmini on the active device list. Either they were immediately deleted, or they are just "ghost" devices. The problem seems solved for the moment, but I do not dare to enable imessage again.

The only unusual thing that I did the same day of the hack, was buying tickets for a liveshow, with safari from the iphone, using the same email and phone number and credit card of my itunes account (of course not the same password). Could this information be enough to hack into imessage?

Other than that, I receive several gif images everyday in telegram.

I am now thinking to reset the phone, without restoring the backup.

just got this exact same problem

having funny weird 'unable to connect to iTunes store' messages lately

this morning, my service provider called me and told me around 900 sms has been sent out by my phone

went to message app and got the same exact problem with these weird chinese text sent out and i received an email from apple saying that my id as been used to Your Apple ID (xxx) was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPod named “iPod touch”. 

seems like my apple id has been compromised