This is about case ID: ***
4 days ago my old Apple account got hacked and accessed by someone from China.
It's an old account I used back when I still had an iPhone from before 2-factor authentication existed on Apple, so the extra security came from the very outdated and insecure 'security questions'.
- 4 days ago I received emails that my account details got updated. Because the first thing the hacker did was changing the security questions and the account birthday.
- I immediately reset the password of the account.
- I tried to setup extra security with 2-factor authentication, but I couldn't, because those require answers to the security question. Which were already altered by the hacker.
I believed that with my email still safe and a new password it would have been fine, that any active login would have been kicked with a password change, but it wasn't...
- The same day, 2 free apps got added to my account by the hacker.
- I immediately reset the password of the account again.
While I was trying to figure out how to contact Apple support the hacker was still active.
- The hacker bought 2 games costing €5,38 from my store credit.
- I requested the 2 games to be refunded immediately.
- I finally managed to find a support chat of Apple.
In this support chat I explained the whole situation. Send many screenshots as proof of being hacked and been chatting for like 2 hours I think.
- The support agent tried to figure out how I could get control over my account back, but couldn't as that requires the altered security questions.
- I asked them to revert the recent changes, so the the security questions were never altered, but they couldn't due to security/privacy reasons.
- I asked them to delete or ban my account, but they couldn't due to security/privacy reasons.
They ended up telling me that there was no way for them to remove the hacker and regain my account since I did not have 2-factor authentication, which did not exist back when I used my account. And the reason they can't do that is for security and privacy reasons. Meanwhile my account is not secure because of that and the hacker has even more access to privacy sensitive information, so security/privacy reasons are nonsense excuses. They literally told me I wouldn't be able to get my account back with all the purchase history on it and should just make a new account.
- We made an appointment that Apple service would call me on my phone today, because I refused to give up and demanded further support.
- Yesterday the hacker changed my password and then changed the associated email address. So now I have no way to login or even reset the password anymore. And won't receive any email updates on what the hacker is doing anymore.
- Today I received the appointed phone call from apple. But they hang up before saying a single word and did not try again.
I am extremely disappointed by the lack of security from Apple. They did not require any email confirmation on important account changes from a suspicious login at the other side of the planet on an unknown device.
I am extremely disappointed by support for being hard to find on the support pages, being unable to help and when making a support appointment not showing up to the appointment.
[Edited by Moderator]
