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iMac (27-inch, late 2013) stolen

A

appleluck

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2013
35
0
IMAC (27-INCH, LATE 2013) C02LQ0E8F8JC

VESA mount

My house got robbed the other day, it was stolen on Sunday Nov 16 2014. I had an encryption wholedisk Symantec symmetric method.

I had 2 ssd installed customized, apple pcie ssd and samsung ssd.

I put apple id for lost stolen(find my mac), ever since it happened perpetrator probably couldn't figure it out how to reinstall it. I haven't seen it online yet.

In this scenario, is there a way to get pass at all? I am hoping it would be a paper weight. I appreciate all the response.
 
appleluck said:
IMAC (27-INCH, LATE 2013) C02LQ0E8F8JC

VESA mount

My house got robbed the other day, it was stolen on Sunday Nov 16 2014. I had an encryption wholedisk Symantec symmetric method.

I had 2 ssd installed customized, apple pcie ssd and samsung ssd.

I put apple id for lost stolen(find my mac), ever since it happened perpetrator probably couldn't figure it out how to reinstall it. I haven't seen it online yet.

In this scenario, is there a way to get pass at all? I am hoping it would be a paper weight. I appreciate all the response.
Click to expand...

Did you turn on Find My Mac on it, if so you may be able to locate it if someone turns it on.
 
Sounds like you had Find My Mac turned on. In that case they would need your Apple ID to reinstall the OS, otherwise it will just be a paperweight to them. Hopefully it will come online and you can wipe it clean, then give the location to the police.
 
firedept said:
Sounds like you had Find My Mac turned on. In that case they would need your Apple ID to reinstall the OS, otherwise it will just be a paperweight to them. Hopefully it will come online and you can wipe it clean, then give the location to the police.
Click to expand...

because they need to format the whole thing and then get online, there is no way to by pass the encryption

another thought, i have a second hard disk in it, can they install OS on there and go in and remount and delete and then reinstall os?

I am making sure my Imac never get in the wrong hands
 
Let me preface this story by assuring you that this person mentioned is not a friend but a customer of a legal firm I worked for........


I know of someone that came across an extremely new and expensive retina mac 2 months ago.

When the person apparently turned on the machine he was unable to get past the password, etc but once it clicked into his wifi network, it immediately shut down and would have sent a message stating the IP address.

He took in the mac which at that point was a brick to a somewhat sleazier computer store and was paid $350 for the machine.
My understanding if I have this right, was that the owner could get past the initial block on the MBP and sent away for some disc in China, had it sent to him and that enabled him to get past the hard drive.

If I recall correctly, the computer had been listed as stolen and the computer store owner who i gather kept it knew enough not to update it online and i guess got around that somehow.

Point being, when I heard this explained I listened and I just remember it had something to do with a disc he ordered from China.
With that disc and whatever it did, it enabled him to change the drive on the computer making this very expensive mac completely usable.

Point being, as secure as it was he still got around it with a small investment.

Sorry I can't be more specific as to what was used and how but I was just startled to discover they were able to get around what essentially was a brick with all of the latest security offered on the laptop



Hopefully it will come online and you can wipe it clean, then give the location to the police.
Click to expand...

I have repeatedly tried to locate myself on there when at home and not once has it been accurate. I live in an old building that has the old cement walls.
I assume that might be why but whenever I try to find myself, it always locates me one road over in the $5 million mansion of a well known Canadian Senator.........which always makes me laugh ..so not sure HOW accurate that is, sending the police out to an IP address....unless the difference was that I was looking for it by GPS?
 
Last edited:
appleluck said:
IMAC (27-INCH, LATE 2013) C02LQ0E8F8JC

VESA mount

My house got robbed the other day, it was stolen on Sunday Nov 16 2014. I had an encryption wholedisk Symantec symmetric method.

I had 2 ssd installed customized, apple pcie ssd and samsung ssd.

I put apple id for lost stolen(find my mac), ever since it happened perpetrator probably couldn't figure it out how to reinstall it. I haven't seen it online yet.

In this scenario, is there a way to get pass at all? I am hoping it would be a paper weight. I appreciate all the response.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to say that once someone has isolated physical access to the machine and knows what they're doing all hope is pretty much lost. They could either part it and sell the parts or swap hard drives and/or disable the Firmware password and iCloud Lock (which I believe requires the replacement of surface mount chips).

Theft has always been a fear in the back of my head for these reasons :( You can only hope that the perpetrator will slip up somehow.
 
redheeler said:
I'm sorry to say that once someone has isolated physical access to the machine and knows what they're doing all hope is pretty much lost. They could either part it and sell the parts or swap hard drives and/or disable the Firmware password and iCloud Lock (which I believe requires the replacement of surface mount chips).

Theft has always been a fear in the back of my head for these reasons :( You can only hope that the perpetrator will slip up somehow.
Click to expand...

the pcie ssd is not for sale i think

and in oder to open and tear apart even for me 17 years of computer knowledge not so easy. need special tools and have to go all the way back and there is no stand. it is really hard to do. i had special people to customize vesa and ssd addition because of the fragile screen. i dont really see how to by pass the itune id
 
Hi anybody out there see the serial or looks like this please contact me

people that took it, they still couldn't get pass the whole disk encryption, it is useless to try
willing to give $1000 for it
 

Attachments

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    imac.jpg
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sooner this computer will be used, anyone at all has the information, please contact me, i will pay you handsomely

People will notice eventually this serial number

C02LQ0E8F8JC
 
appleluck said:
sooner this computer will be used, anyone at all has the information, please contact me, i will pay you handsomely

People will notice eventually this serial number

C02LQ0E8F8JC
Click to expand...

I hope you get your mac soon, and by any chance did you ever back up your mac, incase its get cleaned
 
check craigslist you'll be surprised at the idiots whom try to sell stolen goods there,me and my sister both caught morons who stole our phones and tried re selling on craigslist lol
 
Rud3Bwoy said:
check craigslist you'll be surprised at the idiots whom try to sell stolen goods there,me and my sister both caught morons who stole our phones and tried re selling on craigslist lol
Click to expand...

thank you by this time, i haven't found it on "FIND MY MAC" YET

i am wondering why so much, is it because of the second hard disk i was stubborn to install it and they could use that to reinstall the OSX?

thanks
 
appleluck said:
thank you by this time, i haven't found it on "FIND MY MAC" YET

i am wondering why so much, is it because of the second hard disk i was stubborn to install it and they could use that to reinstall the OSX?

thanks
Click to expand...

honestly find my mac and all these stuff to find your laptop etc are useless all it takes is a format and if they can't get into your laptop how could it even work without wifi?
 
Rud3Bwoy said:
honestly find my mac and all these stuff to find your laptop etc are useless all it takes is a format and if they can't get into your laptop how could it even work without wifi?
Click to expand...

Did you even read through this thread? It's already been mentioned that "Find My Mac" will disallow the reinstall of the OS without the users ID.
 
Tucom said:
Did you even read through this thread? It's already been mentioned that "Find My Mac" will disallow the reinstall of the OS without the users ID.
Click to expand...

i'm sure there are ways to get into a mac without find my mac i remmeber someone from craigslist brought me a macbook with a password on it and i managed to get into the mac awhile ago.o well.
 
yjchua95 said:
This is why enforcing an EFI password is always crucial - to prevent anyone from booting up into single user mode, target disk mode, or booting up from a secondary boot device.
Click to expand...

How do i put an EFI password on my mac?
 
SD-B said:
Let me preface this story by assuring you that this person mentioned is not a friend but a customer of a legal firm I worked for........


I know of someone that came across an extremely new and expensive retina mac 2 months ago.

When the person apparently turned on the machine he was unable to get past the password, etc but once it clicked into his wifi network, it immediately shut down and would have sent a message stating the IP address.

He took in the mac which at that point was a brick to a somewhat sleazier computer store and was paid $350 for the machine.
My understanding if I have this right, was that the owner could get past the initial block on the MBP and sent away for some disc in China, had it sent to him and that enabled him to get past the hard drive.

If I recall correctly, the computer had been listed as stolen and the computer store owner who i gather kept it knew enough not to update it online and i guess got around that somehow.

Point being, when I heard this explained I listened and I just remember it had something to do with a disc he ordered from China.
With that disc and whatever it did, it enabled him to change the drive on the computer making this very expensive mac completely usable.

Point being, as secure as it was he still got around it with a small investment.

Sorry I can't be more specific as to what was used and how but I was just startled to discover they were able to get around what essentially was a brick with all of the latest security offered on the laptop





I have repeatedly tried to locate myself on there when at home and not once has it been accurate. I live in an old building that has the old cement walls.
I assume that might be why but whenever I try to find myself, it always locates me one road over in the $5 million mansion of a well known Canadian Senator.........which always makes me laugh ..so not sure HOW accurate that is, sending the police out to an IP address....unless the difference was that I was looking for it by GPS?
Click to expand...

So he sold this Mac or did he get it to work using that method?
 
Michaelgtrusa said:
So he sold this Mac or did he get it to work using that method?
Click to expand...


That I wouldn't be able to answer for sure but my understanding, or at least how it sounded, was that the computer store owner bought it from him and kept it for himself.

Obviously he got it working or he would not have bought it.
The way it was explained to me, this was a situation that did not play out over 1 day but over a month - 6 weeks.
I believe, but am not positive, that the store owner spent some time getting a disc of some sort from China (again, a guess, perhaps AliBaba?) but I guessed that just from the time I was told it took so again, just a guess, I don't know for sure where it came from but am aware that there was one purchased and it apparently opened up at least one of the locks.
I remember the person mentioned he would have to change the hard drive and the cost for such was why the person I spoke to decided not to move further ahead for himself, as i keeping it but sold it to the store owner for about $350, I think it was?

In any event, that would imply to me that the owner knew what they were doing and knew they could get it done for they were the one that offered the guy I know, a certain amount of money for it---obviously he wouldn't have done so if he did not know 150% that he could do it.

My point being, from that info, I can more or less surmise that even the strictest security can be beat by the right person, someone that knows what they are doing.

I should mention it was a brand new retina MBP, not an iMac if that makes a difference.

Sorry but beyond that I really didn't want to know that much as I didn't agree with what was taking place BUT I also was fascinated to know that that sort of security could even be bypassed so I could not stop myself asking for some information but beyond that I didn't want to know the full details.

I do remember being told that the store owner had a degree of some sort in computer engineering so I doubt that just anyone could have done it for even then it sounded as if he had to work at it but if he could not have done it, he would not have purchased it...at least that is what I surmised from it all.
 
EFI password? IMAC 27 can access, i thought they don't have it

i got Symantec encryption both of the hdd, there is no way to by pass it, it would take many light years to do.

so this can be really be passed?
 
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