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Stolen Cellphone

Adrenalin

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Good Morning.

I require some input regarding a cellphone that was stolen in a nightclub early Friday Morning in JHB.
It was an iPhone XS which I did not cover un der my all risk insurance as the repayments on all risk items are quite pricey (Understandable, I accept that)
I have done the whole wipe phone thing and locate it and all that. Opened a case at SAPS and got all that as well. Phone is also blacklisted.
So my question is as follows:
  • Does anyone have a contact that can find the cellphone? This would obviously be for a fee, I don’t expect something for nothing. My other issue is that I want to find the person who did it. The phone can even come second to the person who did it. I’d like to have a chat with the culprit.
  • How easy is it to a) Retrieve any personal info from the phone if Apple confirms it’s been ‘erased’ and b) Is it possible to unblacklist phones thesedays? How difficult/easy is it?
  • Can the phone still be tracked by the Apple Find My Phone feature after wipe?
Point 1 I presume is my best bet. In the space that we we’re trying to find the person who stole it with bouncers and stuff, 4 other girls came downstairs in tears for stolen phones. Obviously we we’re not 100% sober but we we’re also not smashed out of our brackets. I knew what was going on and did not get physical with anyone even after they started swearing and putting some nice signs in my face. It got close though.

Not sure if i am allowed to mention said nightclub but i’d love to so that other people who go there are fully aware of the place. 4 people’s cellphones stolen within a 30min period of time is just not acceptable. Bouncers of course had seen all this before so they we’re like Meh, we will search who you presume is the culprit and then there is nothing else we can do. It’s really disappointing.

Hope someone can assist. I’d be very appreciative if i can find this guy and put a stop to this nonsense.
 
My tip:

Stop your crusade. You're going to end up in more trouble than a phone is worth. Without hard facts and proof, the guy can easily sue you for a plethora of reasons. Not to mention if it's a bit bigger than plain petty theft, you could end up dead.
 
The phone can be pinged but that cost about R10k.

Best advise has already been given.



My tip:

Stop your crusade. You're going to end up in more trouble than a phone is worth. Without hard facts and proof, the guy can easily sue you for a plethora of reasons. Not to mention if it's a bit bigger than plain petty theft, you could end up dead.
 
I do understand what you are saying ladies / gents. However I can no longer watch this country go down the toilet due to the actions of others.

My options are not limited. I can take the police with me, and do it very legally and ethically. If i can get this guy locked up and have 5 less phones stolen in one night then I am willing to put in the legwork for the benefit of others. Whether he/she stays in jail or not or if he/she even goes to jail is something very hard to control but yet again I will do everything in my power to make sure that I will not put up with this total BS.

The look on people's faces when their phones are stolen is not a good thing. It's not only an invasion of privacy but also flat out theft which should be punished in a manner fitting to the crime. Our views on the punishment might differ very widely but we can all maker a difference and it starts with all of us making a positive contribution to our surroundings.
 
And the cops are going to do what exactly? There are a few bouncer /VIP security services that are untouchable in SA shall leave on these points
 
Sorry to hear over your loss... Thing is with stolen iPhones, they are more or less dead to the thief. It is unusable from what the Apple store says as they are locked to any software interventions.
What thieves generally do is strip the phone apart and sell it as spares. Your phone might be as good as gone (Just like my iPhone).

With regards to your act of kindness in catching the thief, Goodluck. Hope he makes the mistake and you are able to ping the phone via iCloud.
 
And the cops are going to do what exactly? There are a few bouncer /VIP security services that are untouchable in SA shall leave on these points

I honestly do not know. I agree with you on this though.
We have to try though not so? I have a few people I can get hold of in the SAPS who are friends.

Surely we can't just have 1/5/10/15 - R20k+ phones going missing in one night? That's R100k+ business model being done in broad daylight within a few hours!!
 
Thing is with stolen iPhones, they are more or less dead to the thief. It is unusable from what the Apple store says as they are locked to any software interventions.
Are you sure about that? Not sure if iPhones can be unblocked after being blacklisted but they aren't totally unusable. There is software that will allow you to reinstall the phone's firmware and when you turn it on after doing that it's like using a new iPhone.

I have an iPhone 8S that suffered the home button crack while on charge and did the above to get into the phone and set up assistive touch
 
Are you sure about that? Not sure if iPhones can be unblocked after being blacklisted but they aren't totally unusable. There is software that will allow you to reinstall the phone's firmware and when you turn it on after doing that it's like using a new iPhone.

I have an iPhone 8S that suffered the home button crack while on charge and did the above to get into the phone and set up assistive touch

Yes, very sure. To wipe it you will need to connect to iTunes and sign into the iCloud account configured on the phone. If you don't have those details you can't wipe the phone.
 
Are you sure about that? Not sure if iPhones can be unblocked after being blacklisted but they aren't totally unusable. There is software that will allow you to reinstall the phone's firmware and when you turn it on after doing that it's like using a new iPhone.

I have an iPhone 8S that suffered the home button crack while on charge and did the above to get into the phone and set up assistive touch

iPhone are firmware locked, You cannot re install the OS at all.
Infact You cant do anything without the iCloud account .
That is the one thing i like about Apple
 
Yes, very sure. To wipe it you will need to connect to iTunes and sign into the iCloud account configured on the phone. If you don't have those details you can't wipe the phone.
I didn't wipe my phone. iMyFone destroyed all data when re-installing the software. Like I said, it was like a new phone. I even used ,y new iCloud account on the phone when I set it up again. Had no issues.
 
I honestly do not know. I agree with you on this though.
We have to try though not so? I have a few people I can get hold of in the SAPS who are friends.

Surely we can't just have 1/5/10/15 - R20k+ phones going missing in one night? That's R100k+ business model being done in broad daylight within a few hours!!

We have cars worth 20 to 30 billion go missing per month in SA:), doubt they come back hey Iphones can be tracked/pinged I recovered a vehicle(back in the day) which was jacked via our specialist team that lead us to a hotel in Sandton city, culprits were caught mind you the vehicle belonged to a well known local soccer club
 
I didn't wipe my phone. iMyFone destroyed all data when re-installing the software. Like I said, it was like a new phone. I even used ,y new iCloud account on the phone when I set it up again. Had no issues.

Straight from their website:

ATTENTION!

LockWiper only supports to unlock Apple ID on activated device. Therefore, to remove Apple ID via LockWiper, your device must have been set up already and you can access your device settings

Besides, if "Find My iPhone" is enabled, devices running on iOS 11.4 and later versions are not supported to unlock Apple ID.

So basically if you can't unlock the phone you can't do anything, and you can't do anything with any iPhone remotely up to date. /shrug
 
Straight from their website:



So basically if you can't unlock the phone you can't do anything, and you can't do anything with any iPhone remotely up to date. /shrug
Not using LockWiper. Using Fixppo
 
Not using LockWiper. Using Fixppo
I'll take your word for it. On their website they say you need to use LockWiper if you don't know the Apple ID, LOL. Other than their own website, all I can find is a lot of negative reviews saying the app didn't work.
 
I'll take your word for it. On their website they say you need to use LockWiper if you don't know the Apple ID, LOL. Other than their own website, all I can find is a lot of negative reviews saying the app didn't work.
LOL. It works when you pay the R800 for the paid version. The free version doesn’t do squat.

My home button cracked while on charge and the phone had a passcode set up on it with my previous iCloud account on it so I used the software to reinstall the device. If you “restore” an iPhone with iTunes yeah you need to use the iCloud account that was set up on the device to use it again. That’s not the case with Fixppo. It does a complete reinstall. You can even re-install older versions of iOS on to the device.
 
No, I'm talking paying people - they're then unable to get refunded.
Eh I dunno bru. But like I said, I am open to show you it works. As much as I love iPhone, it's not immune to workarounds. iTunes won't allow you to do anything with a locked device but there's plenty of third party apps like Fixppo that circumvents it.
 
Surely we can't just have 1/5/10/15 - R20k+ phones going missing in one night? That's R100k+ business model being done in broad daylight within a few hours!!

I never get the latest phone. I use an S7, it does what I need, I'll find out what the current top end phones are like in 4 years or whenever =P
 
Or, you know, you could use hardware to crack the code



The phones are often sent to China to be cracked and I’m sure that there’s newer hardware used to crack iphone codes as that shows a 4 digit combo with 6 digits being the new standard.

You can try lockdown a phone as best as you want but with time and the right tools, it’ll be cracked.

Insure your phone next time.
 
Or, you know, you could use hardware to crack the code



The phones are often sent to China to be cracked and I’m sure that there’s newer hardware used to crack iphone codes as that shows a 4 digit combo with 6 digits being the new standard.

You can try lockdown a phone as best as you want but with time and the right tools, it’ll be cracked.

Insure your phone next time.
That was patched ages ago. Even the latest hardware device, which was intended to be used by law enforcement and cost $ 30,000 was blocked days after being released Apple Just Killed The 'GrayKey' iPhone Passcode Hack
 
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The phone can be pinged but that cost about R10k.

Best advise has already been given.

Well imo best advice would be to stop going to nightclubs :ROFLMAO:
Second if you do still go out use a cheapy phone when going out.
Third selfies don't need to exist ;)
 
Are you sure about that? Not sure if iPhones can be unblocked after being blacklisted but they aren't totally unusable. There is software that will allow you to reinstall the phone's firmware and when you turn it on after doing that it's like using a new iPhone.

I have an iPhone 8S that suffered the home button crack while on charge and did the above to get into the phone and set up assistive touch

Also it makes sense to have a way to reset a phone in case someone accidentally bricks theirs. I mean surely even Apple wont make their customers buy a new iphone in that case lol.
 
Years ago i had my blackberry 9900 stolen. Tracked it to Zambia. A little derective work had the new user who bought its moms detail and spoke to his mom even.

Police did nothing. Even when the local station commander in zambia would go get it with an interpol reference.

Sadly our cops have other priorities .
 
It's gone. Move on.
i-hate-funerals-i-never-know-what-to-say-just-say-im-sorry-for-your-loss-and-move-on-it-crowd.jpg
 
That was patched ages ago. Even the latest hardware device, which was intended to be used by law enforcement and cost $ 30,000 was blocked days after being released Apple Just Killed The 'GrayKey' iPhone Passcode Hack

Have fun read this paper on iOS exploits that had to be pointed out to Apple before they would fix them.

Do you think Apple would do anything unless the exploits were made very apparent and very public?


 
Have fun read this paper on iOS exploits that had to be pointed out to Apple before they would fix them.

Do you think Apple would do anything unless the exploits were made very apparent and very public?



Made public SEVEN DAYS after informing Apple? Your post makes it sound as if Apple knew about them for years but only fixed them once released to the public.

A lot of security reports are only published after they’ve been fixed. Apple is as on top of their game as one could hope.
 

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