iPhone watch and grab thefts

iPhone watch and grab

In recent weeks the press has been reporting on an epidemic of iPhone thefts that not only see the victim loosing their phone but also thousands of dollars.

Of course, dig a little deeper and you find that this is not a wide spread issue, only affecting about 200 people in the last couple of years. So you are more likely to be stopped in the street by a Banjo playing shark than fall victim to this theft.

For background, the theft goes like this.

Some low life is skulking around in a bar or night-club looking for anyone with an iPhone.

Once they have picked a target, they hang around waiting for that person to use their passcode to get into their iPhone. Once they have that, they grab the phone or pick a pocket and leg it. They then use the passcode to access your Apple ID, passwords and so on.

If banking passwords have been saved in keychain then they can (and have) transferred money to their own account. Typically they also change AppleID passwords and get interrupted access to photos and other documents.

Scary but let us remember, rare.

But there are a couple of things you can do to stop this.

1. Whenever possible use TouchID or FaceID to open your phone. If you must use your passcode then;
2. Treat your passcode like your pin number at an ATM and hide its access.
3. Make your passcode 6 digits or longer rather than the basic 4.

If you use TouchID or FaceID this only gets you so far into the phone. In order to anything that requires security clearance your passcode is required.

To set up FaceID jump over to the Apple website here.

To set up TouchID jump over to the Apple website here

To change your passcode to something longer than a 4 digit one do the following.

On your iPhone go into Settings

Scroll down to FaceID (or TouchID) and Passcode.

Enter your passcode

Scroll down and choose Change passcode.

Enter your new 6 digit passcode or;

Tap on Passcode Options and choose Custom Alphanumeric or Custom Numeric

(Remember to write it down and keep it safe.)

Also, while in the Passcode section, scroll down until you see Erase Data and enable that. That way, if they try and guess it, your data will be erased after 1o attempts.

(Again, remember to write down your new passcode and keep it safe.)