iPhone 4 iOS5 stolen, thief still receiving my iMessages

[andrewhdn]

My iPhone was stolen last week. I did a remote wipe, but the thief is still receiving my iMessages from other friends with iOS5. I would really appreciate any help.

What I've done:

• I called Verizon, and they redirected me to Applecare.
• I called Applecare, and they said to change my Apple ID password.
• I did this and sent my number an iMessage from my friend's phone; it was delivered and read.
• I called Applecare again, and they said to get the ID cancelled through iTunes.
• I contacted iTunes, and they said that iMessage is not associated with Apple ID, and cancelling my Apple ID will not stop the stolen phone from receiving my iMessages.
• I changed my Apple ID email, password, and billing address in hopes that it would do something to disassociate my Apple ID from iMessage. No luck.

I really don't know what to do now. I don't like that my stolen phone is receiving messages from my friends.

Thanks!

[Jigga]

If you did a remote wipe then it wouldn't be logged into your itunes account. Did you get a new phone or is your # still on that phone?

[andrewhdn]

That's what I thought too... but I think it is still registered with my apple ID, since I used it to install iOS 5. I got a new droid with my old number.

It might still be registered to my number, but is just deactivated. I was hoping that the thief maybe somehow got it to register under a different service.

Here's what went down the night it was stolen:

• phone was stolen
• went home and sent the phone a message, but it was turned off
• called verizon to suspend the service
• sent a remote wipe
• went to bed
• reactivated the service through verizon so the remote wipe would send through
• the remote wipe sent
• i called the number in order to check my voicemail
• some lady with broken english picked up and said she bought it from craigslist
• called back verizon to tell them to suspend the service again

[PDiggles]

The SAME thing just happened to me. My phone was stolen, I tried to locate it but the thief had either already wiped it or just had it turned off so I set a remote wipe. I received an email the next day saying that "BigDaddys iPhone" (not the name of my iPhone) had been wiped. I just bought a 4 off of a friend & had to get a new sim, shortly after I installed the sim I received an iMessage of a conversation BigDaddy was having with a buddy of mine, telling him he had the wrong #. I put 2 & 2 together but thought that since i activated my imessage BigDaddy wasnt receiving them anymore and thought that if I turned my iMessaging of then he would. So I turned it off and had my friend iMessage "me" asking if this was BigDaddy, he received a message back confirming.

What I'd like to do is use iMessage to catch this SOB BigDaddy, get my phone back & fix the iMessage problem myself by having my phone instead of some prick. I plan on having a chick I know hit on BigDaddy through iMessage, maybe sext him or something and get him to call her so that I have his phone number & then from there. Any suggestions of what to do once I have that info? Let me know if you figure out the iMessage issue.

[alent1234]

interesting bug

i wonder what happens if you sell an iphone to get a new one or android phone to replace it

[andrewhdn]

I was thinking of doing that... catching them with iMessage, but it's too much work for me. You should definitely do it though.

I solved the problem by registering my new iPhone under a different apple ID, and I cancelled my old Apple ID to completely disassociate my number from it.

Messages work fine now. I lost some of my iTunes purchases, but it's not a big deal for me.

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Originally Posted by PDiggles

What I'd like to do is use iMessage to catch this SOB BigDaddy, get my phone back & fix the iMessage problem myself by having my phone instead of some prick. I plan on having a chick I know hit on BigDaddy through iMessage, maybe sext him or something and get him to call her so that I have his phone number & then from there. Any suggestions of what to do once I have that info? Let me know if you figure out the iMessage issue.

I don't know what you can do once you have his number. Only thing I think you can do is to report him to the authorities, or to have him "meet" your friends and ambush him for your phone...

[learneradam]

Hi

Still learning what I can from others and found this post of interest, for awareness later on if I should loose my iPhone.

In the past I was aware that MobileMe had the ability to find my iPhone, which it still currently does. But suspect that will go when MobileMe finishes.

So I went to good old Google and found the link to the app store providing a free app that might work for you.

App store - Find my iPhone

Will be keen to see if you have some success with it.

Good Luck

[maliu]

If he has iOS5 find my iPhone is automatically set to on. Have you tried find my iPhone on a computer?

[6172crew]

I'm having the same issue with my old iPhone, it was on iOS 5 and my buddies are telling me that the texts are going to the guy with the phone. I ported my number over to a droid because I work for a carrier that doesn't sell iPhones.

[martychang]

No disrespect intended, but how exactly is it that people get their phones stolen? The only way I can imagine that happening to me is if I got mugged, which isn't entirely out of the question. Thing is, if you get mugged and your phone is stolen, you usually just say you got mugged, so I get the feeling this isn't how everyone is doing it.

I'm an Android user considering an iPhone switch when my contract is up so I'm curious about this topic anyway: I have 2-step authentication on my Google account so I would just revoke the application-specific password I used to sign my phone in if it got stolen, then port the number, and that'd be it. I guess there's nothing like 2-step authentication for iTunes huh

[jazmynlovesyou]

I literally just had my phone stolen from me less than 24 hrs ago at a bar tracked it all day long. I had the cops write up a report and continue looking for it on my own. When I found that it was stationary at a house a few towns away i called the local police and they retrieved it. A cop is on his way to my house right now to bring it back to me.

[andrewhdn]

Originally Posted by jazmynlovesyou

I literally just had my phone stolen from me less than 24 hrs ago at a bar tracked it all day long. I had the cops write up a report and continue looking for it on my own. When I found that it was stationary at a house a few towns away i called the local police and they retrieved it. A cop is on his way to my house right now to bring it back to me.

Thank you for providing us with a success story using Find my iPhone. It is great that you were able to get your phone back and mitigate the trauma of dealing with this crap.

I sent a remote wipe before using find my iphone because the personal cost of having my information stolen exceeded the benefit of keeping the information on it in order to find the phone.

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Originally Posted by martychang

No disrespect intended, but how exactly is it that people get their phones stolen? The only way I can imagine that happening to me is if I got mugged, which isn't entirely out of the question. Thing is, if you get mugged and your phone is stolen, you usually just say you got mugged, so I get the feeling this isn't how everyone is doing it.

I'm an Android user considering an iPhone switch when my contract is up so I'm curious about this topic anyway: I have 2-step authentication on my Google account so I would just revoke the application-specific password I used to sign my phone in if it got stolen, then port the number, and that'd be it. I guess there's nothing like 2-step authentication for iTunes huh

I was at a party, and someone picked it out of my pocket; the school I attend is not located in a very esteemed area.

There is no similar option in iTunes that I know of. Everything has one login with the Apple ID (unless you create multiple Apple IDs for different application downloads)

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Thank you for all of your suggestions.

I wish Find my iPhone worked for me, but it is no longer available for a phone after a remote wipe has been sent.

Also, after going through the entire process of canceling my Apple ID and opening a new one on a different iPhone, the thief is still sending my friend messages... somehow. I just saw a message that they sent on iMessage moments ago.

Now that I have AppleCare phone support with my new 4s, Apple will be getting an earful from me tomorrow.

[icicle71]

Hi
To fix this, just login to appleid.apple.com with your email address and password, edit the secondary email address and then erase the secondary email address...problem solved
Cheers
Ryan

[Eager Beaver]

Originally Posted by jazmynlovesyou

I literally just had my phone stolen from me less than 24 hrs ago at a bar tracked it all day long.

How was it stolen from you at a bar, gun point?
You mean you left it at the bar, that's what you really mean!

Originally Posted by andrewhdn

I was at a party, and someone picked it out of my pocket; the school I attend is not located in a very esteemed area.

OMG, I almost laughed my coffee out my nose!

You guys are hilarious, you leave your phones lying about, and then call them stolen -

[Ivan P]

Originally Posted by Eager Beaver

OMG, I almost laughed my coffee out my nose!

You guys are hilarious, you leave your phones lying about, and then call them stolen -

I hope you realise that pickpocketing is still common, so maybe you shouldn't assume you're right when, in fact, you could be wrong.

[silverblack]

OP, I don't have any confirmed answer, but I bet your old sim card is still on the stolen phone. Even though you wipe the phone and your carrier disconnected the service, the phone is still registering your old number in iMessage (likely connected via wifi). When you friends send you messages, they are routed to your old number, and to the stolen phone. Perhaps your should ask all your friends to update their contacts of you to the new number.


Please update us with your progress. I am very interested in this, as I never know, one day it may happen to me.

[Dhelsdon]

Yes, keep us posted.

[icicle71]

it has nothing to do with the sim -it would be deactivated forever..., the MIN (phone number) would be on the replacement phone...its all on the apple servers and the apple id

[Kasinas]

Any update on this issue?