Q: Need to disable unauthorized Apple ID
My elderly mother has been getting emails from Apple asking her to verify her Apple ID password change. She has never created an Apple ID, so somebody besides her used her email address to sign up.... and then apparently forgot his password.
Normally i would tell her to ignore this, but one of the emails Apple sent says the ID was used to sign in to "iCloud on an iPod." So this person has not only managed to create an Apple ID with her email address, he has successfully used it to sign in somewhere. I am concerned about havoc that might be wreaked in her name.
So i have two questions:
- How do we disable or completely delete the fraudulent Apple ID? I've already changed the password, but it's foolish for this ID to even exist, since my mother has absolutely no use for it. I wasn't even able to explain to her what an Apple ID is.
- How was this person able to create the ID in the first place without the ability to confirm his email address? It's not like it's a brand new address that might have been recently recycled from a previous owner; she's had it for at least 8 years. Not to mention the incredible odds against someone else using the same combination of unusual first name plus EXTREMELY unusual last name as his email address.
Obviously the first question is more pressing; the second is a bit more philosophical. ...Unless it points to some huge and also silly security problem in Apple's signup process, but i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on that
Posted on Aug 27, 2016 8:37 PM
Only Apple's account security team holds the answer to both of those questions. To contact them see Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security - Apple Support.
Posted on Aug 27, 2016 8:40 PM