icloud hacked, macbook disabled, have to pay to unlock

It wasn't an official apple store/centre, but an authorised apple service repair centre. The appointment was scheduled by apple support on the phone as it was the nearest one to me. Would it be free at the official apple store/centre?

The mac hadn't been updated in months, like I mentioned I just came back from a long trip and turned the macbook on after all that time. It popped up with a lot of update messages and there was a message about icloud as well, which I didn't really read but i just clicked through everything and it restarted. But I then received an email, saying my Macbook had been locked with find my iphone, which I did not do and my macbook has been disabled when I boot up. The macbook is not in my devices list anymore, the repair staff told me it has now been registered to the hacker.

The Macbook is not under warranty anymore, it is 5years old. But I just want the security lock removed, it's ridiculous how apple can't disable it from their end, even when I can prove ownership, and I have to pay a costly fee to have the entire laptop erased and restored to factory. I don't mind too much about losing the data, I would reformat restore myself but can't because of the security lock, so it's really frustrating that they would make me pay the hefty fee just because of apple's security feature backfiring. I'm here seeking advice if this service can be free, I tried calling apple support again after the meeting with the repair centre but there lines were busy today.

Terence after researching the problem I can tell you I am not the only person this has happened to but quite a few. Yeah I think I've got the OS disk somewhere, the problem is the macbook is locked before you can even boot from disks or go into recovery or safe mode.

Well Apple support had told me on the phone, the service centre would be able to remove the lock from their end, and you should be able to see how it would be a problem if they couldn't unblock their own security feature, if icloud accounts got hacked or even if someone locked there own device and forgot their passcode then apple can't even do anything about it.

No not that one, there's been some similar stuff happening with apple devices as well over the past few years. I've recently read up on this one http://bgr.com/2017/03/24/iphone-icloud-hack-threat-is-real/ which I think is how they got my icloud account, as it was an outdated password which I commonly used. The macbook has been removed from my icloud account now and has most likely been registered to a new account with the hacker as the apple service people told me.

Csound1, no that wasn't the main point I was getting at with the article. It was proven that they had access to genuine iclouds accounts but aside from that article ransomware on macs have happened in recent years. This is the exact problem I'm having *** is many other people Possible Ransomware? | MacRumors Forums the lock screen on my mac comes up with the email address "applepass04@gmail.com" and according to others who have tried emailing that address, it asks them to pay through bitcoin to have their macbooks unlocked

and at Jimmy, it has already been told to me by apple service that the macbook has been hacked through my icloud account and locked. But I think we are getting off-topic. I already know the problem with the macbook, I just wanted advice or if people have had experience with apple stores disabling this security feature or if I went to the official apple store if they would do it free. I'll give apple support another call tomorrow morning and hopefully the line is not busy

Jimmy I agree that it's my fault my icloud got hacked. I don't care about that at the moment, my complaint is I can't even even restore the macbook myself because of the security lock, if I had a virus or got hacked on any other laptop I could always just erase the whole drive and reinstall myself, but in this case I can't do it myself because of the lock and have to pay a ridiculous fee to apple so they can do it. All I was hoping was they could remove the lock once I verified I owned the macbook, and if needed I would wipe and reinstall myself. I don't believe this should require a fee, you know I walk in, prove the mac is mine, they undo the "find my iphone" lock, all good. Ideal scenario, I'm just frustrated at all these hurdles along the way to do something that should be so simple.

PS It's very late at night where I am now

Csound1, I don't know what you mean? Apple (at least the service centre) is asking for money to unlock the device, that's my main reason for complaint, $200 fee. Anyway just an update, I emailed the email address that was on the lock screen of my mac... the response was:

Hello!

We have blocked your device. To continue using:

Pay 50$/0.04 BTC on the Bitcoin Wallet:

Buy bitcoins: coinbase dot com

Through a credit card you buy. Before you start, register on the site.

After payment, attach a screenshot or tell us the time of payment, we will send your password from your device within an hour.

The payment is given 12 hours.

In case of non-payment, your device will be permanently blocked.

Well the ransom is actually cheaper than the service fee of apple. But obviously it's a risk doing

Bob that wasn't the popup that came up for me, I would never fall for a scam like that. It was someone who gained access to my icloud account and locked my macbook with the find my iphone feature.

Anyway some news, I decided to take the hard drive out of my macbook and connect it to a desktop and I was able to access all my files. So a bit of good news, all my files are still there and I can back them up. But the macbook is still disabled so it means the lock feature is coded into the chips of the macbook (hence its called a firmware lock), so it's pointless even wiping the drive and do a reinstall. It makes me even more frustrated now because it means the lock is kinda useless in protecting my data anyway and just a massive inconvenience because apple can't disable it either when I brought it to them, they said they would need to send it in and reset the whole laptop.