iPhone 4S stolen - find my iPhone not working

The Browser

Hi All,

My iPhone 4S was stolen early last week when I was roaming in the Philippines.

The SIM is PIN-protected, but there's no other security on the phone. Find my iPhone is not working on the device for some reason. I have emailed Meteor (my carrier) and asked them to lock the phone asap, but they have not yet responded.

When I got back home to Dubai, I bought a new iPhone 5 and imported my music from iTunes and my contacts from the cloud. I also changed my iTunes password.

What else should I do to ensure the safety of my iTunes account and, importantly, to wipe or lock the stolen 4S?

Thanks

SpaceTime

Change your email account passwords too and any other accounts the phone has access to.

It's possible that you'll be unable to wipe the phone remotely. I would suspect your phone has already been wiped.

Keep trying the find my phone service as it's possible your phone isn't online or switched on.

Meteor could hot list the phone's IMEI but there is no guarantee that will work with a non EU network.

guil

If meteor blacklist it, it will only be for Ireland. It will work anywhere else.

SpaceTime

The hotlisting is done across the GSMA (GSM Association) so it should be blocked on most European networks and quite a few others too.

It used to be just a local thing.

It's not always as effective as it should be though.

Apple are introducing an ability to make it impossible to activate a stolen iPhone or iPad once they've hotlisted the serial numbers and details. Unfortunately, it's only being introduced with iOS 7 which is all beta testing at the moment.

Reamer Fanny

SpaceTime wrote: »

Change your email account passwords too and any other accounts the phone has access to.

It's possible that you'll be unable to wipe the phone remotely. I would suspect your phone has already been wiped.

Keep trying the find my phone service as it's possible your phone isn't online or switched on.

Meteor could hot list the phone's IMEI but there is no guarantee that will work with a non EU network.

+1 on changing your email passwords, its possible with Hotmail at least to "sniff" the passwords over the network everytime you download new mail.

wanderrr

SpaceTime wrote: »

Change your email account passwords too and any other accounts the phone has access to.

It's possible that you'll be unable to wipe the phone remotely. I would suspect your phone has already been wiped.

justryan wrote: »

+1 on changing your email passwords, its possible with Hotmail at least to "sniff" the passwords over the network everytime you download new mail.

I'm not sure I fully understand this (obviously I agree with the general principle of keeping passwords safe and changing them if they've been compromised, but bear with me). If the phone is password-protected and gets wiped, doesn't that mean that any passwords or personal info are wiped as well?

In other words, is the only way someone can get at your personal info is for them to break the PIN? And, if so, how easily is that done (or is it really worth their while if the phone is stolen for resale value)?

Thanks.

SpaceTime

The biggest risk isn't that someone will get a copy of your password (although it is possible) However, they would be able to access your accounts using your phone.

You should also de-authorise any apps like Twitter from their respective websites. These use a secure token on the app on your phone rather than a password, so you actually need to log into Twitter and deauthorise your Twitter Apps on your iPhone.

wanderrr

I suppose that's what I'm asking (out of ignorance) though - how easy/likely is it that someone would be able to access accounts on a PIN-protected phone (with four, or five, or six digits)? Would they not be more likely just to wipe everything and sell it?

guil

wanderrr wrote: »

I suppose that's what I'm asking (out of ignorance) though - how easy/likely is it that someone would be able to access accounts on a PIN-protected phone (with four, or five, or six digits)? Would they not be more likely just to wipe everything and sell it?

If you just have a sim pin set they just have to remove the sim or cancel the request for it to use any other thing on the phone

wanderrr

guil wrote: »

If you just have a sim pin set they just have to remove the sim or cancel the request for it to use any other thing on the phone

Does SIM PIN = passcode (as defined in Settings)? Otherwise I'm not sure what you're talking about...

SpaceTime

The SIM pin will only prevent someone making calls, sending texts or using data. It only disables the SIM card. The pass code is for the phone itself.

wanderrr

Thanks. That puts me back to my original question - if the phone is passcode-protected and gets stolen, how will the thief be able to access emails, Facebook, etc.? (or even any of the Sim functions such as calls and texts)?

guil

You seem to be getting confused between the pin and pass code. If the phone asks for a pin when you turn it on, then that's only for the sim. If the pass code is set and turned on it will say pass code every time you try to unlock it.

flyguy

The Browser wrote: »

Hi All,

My iPhone 4S was stolen early last week when I was roaming in the Philippines.

The SIM is PIN-protected, but there's no other security on the phone. Find my iPhone is not working on the device for some reason. I have emailed Meteor (my carrier) and asked them to lock the phone asap, but they have not yet responded.

When I got back home to Dubai, I bought a new iPhone 5 and imported my music from iTunes and my contacts from the cloud. I also changed my iTunes password.

What else should I do to ensure the safety of my iTunes account and, importantly, to wipe or lock the stolen 4S?

Thanks

Just to get this clear, you have a sim pin, so no passcode lock? As in when your phone is on lock screen anyone can "slide to unlock" without the phone asking for a passcode? If this is the case then whoever has your phone potentially has full use of it, including calls as it would only ask for a sim pin if the phone was off. Also it's not strange find my iPhone doesn't work as without a passcode you can just go into settings and switch it off. They can also access your email and reset/request new passwords on several accounts.
Now I doubt you should worry about any of this as it is more likely the phone was wiped and sold on at this stage anyway. Phones get stolen for the value of the phone not for what they can do with it.
I assume you have pass code lock switched on on your new iPhone...

The Browser

flyguy wrote: »

Just to get this clear, you have a sim pin, so no passcode lock? As in when your phone is on lock screen anyone can "slide to unlock" without the phone asking for a passcode? If this is the case then whoever has your phone potentially has full use of it, including calls as it would only ask for a sim pin if the phone was off. Also it's not strange find my iPhone doesn't work as without a passcode you can just go into settings and switch it off. They can also access your email and reset/request new passwords on several accounts.
Now I doubt you should worry about any of this as it is more likely the phone was wiped and sold on at this stage anyway. Phones get stolen for the value of the phone not for what they can do with it.
I assume you have pass code lock switched on on your new iPhone...

Yes, lesson learned. Meteor have blocked the phone and locked it "so that nobody can use it" (or so they say). No date has been used on the phone, nor has there been activity of any kind on it.

flyguy

Just to be clear on what meteor are claiming, nobody can use it for making calls/text (and if that block works outside Ireland/EU is doubtful). They will have full access to any data on your phone and access anything if they're connected with wifi. Like I already said its doubtful anyone will, but just to be sure I would at least your email password (and PayPal if you've an account).

The Browser

flyguy wrote: »

Just to be clear on what meteor are claiming, nobody can use it for making calls/text (and if that block works outside Ireland/EU is doubtful). They will have full access to any data on your phone and access anything if they're connected with wifi. Like I already said its doubtful anyone will, but just to be sure I would at least your email password (and PayPal if you've an account).

Thanks, have already done so