iPhone XS Replaced With a Fake by a Thief in a Manhattan Bar; Victim Says Apple ‘Incredibly Unhelpful’

The thief also managed to steal the passcode and get access to the victim's Apple account.

Highlights
  • iPhone XS gets stolen by an intelligent thief who replaced the phone with a fake unit.
  • The incident occurred in a bar in Manhattan, where the victim was partying with his friends.
  • The thief accessed the Apple account, and the victim says Apple was ‘incredibly unhelpful’ in the ordeal.
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An iPhone XS was stolen in a Manhattan bar by a thief in an ingenious manner. While the 28 years old Trent (no last name shared to protect privacy) was partying away with his friends, his iPhone was replaced with a fake. Trent told Business Insider that his iPhone XS was kept on the table while he was partying, and that’s when the thief managed to replace the device. Not just that, but the culprit also managed to steal the passcode and do financial transactions from the phone. Throughout this ordeal, Trent claims that Apple has been “incredibly unhelpful.” Here’s what happened.

Thief Steals iPhone XS Along with Money From Venmo and Credit Card

Apple iPhone XS MaxIn this surprising incident, Trent was partying with his friends one night in a Manhattan bar when his iPhone XS was replaced with a fake. According to the source, the victim kept his iPhone on the table for a few minutes, and that’s when the thief replaced it with a fake unit. When Trent returned to his table, he couldn’t turn on the phone and thought the battery had drained. That’s until he stopped at a pizza shop.

While ordering his food, Trent asked the staff if he could charge his phone there, and that’s when he realised that the phone in his hand was not his. Trent said, “I originally thought the pizza spot swapped my phone out, but according to the police, they were pretty familiar with the spot.” The police told him the owners “wouldn’t do something like that.”

This was when Trent filed a police complaint reporting the theft of this iPhone, thinking it is a simple theft. However, he didn’t know that the thief had managed to glance at his passcode when he was using the device at the bar and now had access to his Apple account and password manager, which contained all of his banking and credit card details.

According to the report, the thief purchased an iPad worth $1,633 (~Rs 1,35,000) and removed $229.68 (~Rs 19,000) from Trent’s Venmo account. The thief then repeatedly tried to buy iPads from Target stores in New York and tried to withdraw $980.

The thief also changed his password, so Trent could not access the account. And when he reached out to Apple, hoping that the company would help him reset the password, he was told to wait for a day. According to Apple, since the miscreant requested a password reset, the automated system only allows one request every 24 hours. And according to the company, if Trent didn’t change the password the next day, he would have to wait for 27 days.

According to Trent, it was incredibly frustrating since Apple refused to believe it was him even after providing all IDs and documents. When he finally regained access to his account after two weeks, he had to change all his documents, including his passport and driving license, because the thief now had copies of them.

Do you also leave your phone unattended when partying? Keep your phone on your person to avoid inconveniences like this.