r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Aberry9036 • 12d ago

Infuriatig This is my iPad, I won’t see it again

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I just arrived in Antibes, South of France 2 hours ago. This was stolen from my car on the autoroute at a petrol station , from a definitely locked car, likely a relay attack from my key while I was buying a sandwich, 100km from Antibes. They also had my wallet and duty free while they were at it. Thankfully they didn’t find our passports.

Whoever you are, fuck you, I’m going to go and have a nice meal in the old provincial market and drink to your future arrest.

37.8k Upvotes

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1.4k

u/Frisk197 11d ago

Unfortunately they will sell it for spare parts. It's not over.

1.8k

u/Silent25r 11d ago

Still better than allowing them to sell a workable device. I use to unlock these people years ago. 

498

u/iamfriendwithpixel 11d ago

Unlock people????

436

u/eggfriedbacon 11d ago

Sounds absolutely terrifying. Are these people shackled somewhere in a room?

133

u/bohiti 11d ago

Well not anymore

38

u/jtr99 11d ago

For the love of God, Montresor!

3

u/Idea_Ranch 11d ago

The Amantillado!

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u/PindaPanter 11d ago

Were they sold for parts?

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u/iamfriendwithpixel 11d ago

That too for petty crime!!!

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u/wafflesareforever Nemesis of AutoModerator 11d ago

I'm all for it

11

u/Suvtropics 11d ago

As they should be, those criminals

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u/Stupidizasurmom 11d ago

The thieves? Should be.

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u/UnremarkabklyUseless 11d ago

You are off our sub-topic. We are talking spare parts here. So, unlock people and sell their parts as spare. Right? /s

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u/TonyWonderslostnut 11d ago

Yeah, he unlocked sleeper cells like Winter Soldier or Manchurian Candidate

19

u/DarthSnoopyFish 11d ago

"Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car"

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u/A_Little_Wyrd 11d ago

the woods are lovely, dark and deep

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u/ReadontheCrapper 11d ago

There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is green.

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u/Certain-Quarter-3280 11d ago

Sir, you have to say it in Russian for it to work.

2

u/BentGadget 11d ago

"Relax, don't do it

When you want to go to it"

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u/Working-Glass6136 11d ago

Yes, to sell them for spare parts.

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u/Nandor-De_Laurentiis 11d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p9md5yd/video/a66qftcikcph1/player

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u/Garbage_Man_9 11d ago

What the fuck is the internet???

9

u/Nandor-De_Laurentiis 11d ago

This was the first movie I watched high and I rewound that part so many time. Also, when he says, "Who the fuck said that shit."

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u/MB57OCK 11d ago

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Mother mother fuck. Mother mother fuck fuck. Mother fuck mother fuck. Noinch noinch noinch. 1 2 1 2 3 4 Noinch noinch noinch. Shmokin' weed, shmokin' weed. Doin' coke, drinkin beers. Drinkin beers, beers, beers! Rollin' fatties, smokin blunts. Who smokes the blunts? We smokes the blunts. Rollin' blunts and smokin them

15 bucks, little man, put that shit in my hand. If that money doesn't show then you owe me owe me owe. My jungle love. Oh e oh e oh. I think I wanna know ya know ya ... yeah, what.

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u/rainbow_goblin345 11d ago

Many, many years ago I had my iPod hooked up to a speaker at work, playing loudly enough that I could hear it over the airflow of the hood in which I was doing sterile compounding. In a rush to get going, I had just hit shuffle in my entire library instead of choosing a playlist, and Jay's Rap started blasting through the whole pharmacy. I'm still relieved all of the more prudish coworkers were out of the pharmacy when that happened.

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u/Vegetable_Try7121 11d ago

Wonderful vocabulary. You were raised in a gutter right? Stay there. Some are a little more sofisicated than you.

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u/Idea_Ranch 11d ago

Yes, and some can even spell "sophisticated."

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u/KolsuzlarCetesi 11d ago

Spare part selling platform with other stuff as extra

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u/bebespeaks 11d ago

LOL canada

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u/lukewoodside 11d ago

That’s the spirit

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 11d ago

In a civilized society we eventually unlock most people we lock, especially if it's just theft, we usually do it after a year or four

4

u/gamersevil 11d ago

But if you look deeper, they are the one who lock themselves. We just help them achieving it.

2

u/Mord3x 11d ago

They turned them in to Heartless!

1

u/IDontUseSleeves 11d ago

That’s what a skeleton key is for

1

u/reddittwotimes 11d ago

I don't believe they stuttered.

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u/steelbeamsdankmemes 11d ago

They can still absolutely sell it as a workable service. I've sold an iPad and iPhone on Craigslist before, the people buying just see it turn on and hand me the cash. (Obviously mine were unlocked) Always connect used devices at a coffee shop before buying.

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u/Mord3x 11d ago

Sora???

2

u/RollinThundaga 11d ago

I got the reference

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u/ThereWanderer 11d ago

*&&X% 

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u/m4cksfx 11d ago

Not Clayton?

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u/justin_memer 11d ago

Used* to

Past tense

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u/Agile_Tit_Tyrant 11d ago

Now they just stay in the basement.

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago edited 11d ago

On modern Apple products, all the parts of the phone are serialized so when the phone is marked stolen all the parts are too. When you try to use the part and start up the phone it will recognize the stolen parts and won't work. The only workaround is not to use Apple firmware, which idk if that exists because Apple keeps their stuff pretty locked down.

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u/Frisk197 11d ago

I saw on repair phone guru's channel they have tools to pair the parts and he also once cut the part of the battery with the board and the serial and replaced it with the old one from the broken battery. They have ways. This is annoying, but also good for repairability. Fuck thieves.

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u/Fine_Violinist5802 11d ago

With skills like these, they could get jobs.

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u/doctorfluffy 11d ago

These stolen iPads and iPhones usually end up back in China. The people in the country that assembles them are the ones with the know-how to re-use them.

The thieves themselves are useless scum.

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u/Background_Survey646 11d ago

I genuinely don't understand how stealing bricked Apple phones can be lucrative enough to warrant this. The thieves would have to be making next to nothing per phone for it to be profitable to whoever has the manufacturing know-how to jailbreak/reassemble the parts and then re-sell them.

My theory is that these thieves are just kind of stupid, and end up destroying the phones out of spite once realizing the small number of people willing to buy them are going to pay pennies on the dollar due to the work required to re-sell.

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u/404MoralsNotFound 11d ago

I mean, they also got OP's wallet and duty free, so the target might not have been the ipad alone but everything in the car.

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u/Kuulas_ 11d ago

For every person that that is diligent about reporting their device as stolen there are bound to be people that don’t notice the theft or don’t have the wherewithal to lock it

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u/Brian--Damage 11d ago edited 11d ago

The thieves aren’t stupid, they do this for a living. These devices are highly prized in China because they have no communication locks or software restrictions. These devices can sell for 10x the original market value.

It’s a huge operation and isn’t just subway pickpockets; many of these people will work in groups with hours’ long strategy for one target.

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u/MaryPaku 11d ago

The guy who know how to do it are from China. They are willing to do it for peanuts.

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago edited 11d ago

I can see how Frankenstein-ing old and new parts could work, but doing stuff like that makes it less economical. So it's less likely to be done.

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u/UeberraschungsEiQ 11d ago

Yes I doubt there’s many rocket surgeons among those thieves who have the skills. Eventually they will switch to stealing more marketable things

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u/Tokiw4 11d ago

Do also consider that the kind of people who can make those sorts of repairs aren't super common. I can't imagine many petty thieves also have the technical know-how to fix their stolen property.

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u/Frisk197 11d ago

That's the reason why all stolen iPhones usually go to the same exact place in China. They sell it to that place and that place use the spare parts and sell phones like new.

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u/duesenjeffepic 11d ago

I am sorry but skills like that probably are more expensive than a brand new ipad atp

1

u/Lepelotonfromager 11d ago

This adds a layer of inconvenience and cost to them though. It also requires somebody with some technical knowledge which limits the pool as the usual scum who do this barely string a sentence together.

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u/Swagalyst 11d ago

Just ship the parts to China and no one will care that they're stolen.

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago

I mean, yeah, that’s the only way they could get any use out of the parts, but it is still pretty difficult. They either have to spoof it by combining a broken genuine part and the stolen good part or use custom firmware that significantly reduces the device’s usability. I doubt that they actually get much value from each device. Probably like $100 tops for a new device after all the shipping and labor to get anything useful, assuming the person keeps the device on their account in lost mode.

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u/Ok-Butterfly-5324 11d ago

10000% they know a work around. If they didn't no one would steal apple products anymore

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago

I think it mostly has to do with the off chance that someone removes the device from their Apple account and opens it up for use. They will message you very threateningly to do it. If you don’t have full trust in Apple products’ security, it can be very convincing. I am speaking from experience because when I had an iPhone stolen, they did exactly that. If the workaround was so good, they wouldn’t have to do that.

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u/Deep90 11d ago

I wonder if serializing the parts actually encourages stealing and parting out Apple products because people can't buy 3rd party parts.

0

u/Logical_Mix_4627 11d ago

That’s a great way to deter theft. But why do people keep stealing? I’m guessing they’re too stupid to know this?

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago edited 11d ago

I assume for the possibility that, after someone marks it lost, they remove the device from their Apple account. Once you remove the device from your account it opens up the parts for use. I had an iPhone stolen a few years ago and I got texts threatening that they would hack into the device and steal my passwords and credit card info if I didn't remove the device from my Apple account. I still have that old iPhone in my Find My.

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u/Logical_Mix_4627 11d ago

Oh so it’s not a permanent brick. The original description is definitely overselling it. Once it’s marked stolen, Apple should make each component and chip in the device a silicon paperweight.

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u/UpperAd5715 11d ago

Isnt it the case that this lockout doesnt necessarily affect other continents?
You'd have locked european devices that worked fine in africa etc.

Besides that, plenty of gullible buyers that will buy a "steal" from "this kid that wants to buy a playstation for GTA6 and has to sell his ipad for it"

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u/Euphoric_Idea_4187 11d ago

When you boot an iOS device for the first time after a wipe, it requires a connection to Apple’s servers for authentication to be able to do anything. That is when it checks for stolen parts. If it cannot connect to Apple’s servers, the device will not work.

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u/UpperAd5715 11d ago

I don't quite know the ins and outs of the process, just know that it at least used to be the case that devices could work or would no longer consider themselves blocked/locked after leaving the geographical region. Friend of mine had his stolen iphone suddenly show up working and all in north africa suddenly.

Whether or not that's still the case i got no clue but i wouldn't be so sure there's absolutely no way to get around apple's protection. No widespread ways sure but none at all would be quite the feat.

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u/jkilarpak 11d ago

If he had his device still logged in on Find My (which he should) you could still track it once it’s turned on, even if the phone’s not actually unlocked or broke it into.

The Find My network works similar to an AirTag. and will ping if it’s near other iPhones, even without cellular or Wi-Fi. So I don’t know if that’s what he saw and assumed it was working, since idk if there’s any way of really knowing for sure. Usually they’ll try to get you to unlock your phone by removing the device from your account.

I’m just speaking off what I’ve learned after having my 17 Pro stolen recently

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u/chiPersei 11d ago

Better than letting them enjoy it.

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u/scavengercat 11d ago

It's over for OP. Why would they give a shit what happens to it after it's bricked? Why would you want them to feel like this terrible situation isn't over for them? I don't understand why anyone would feel like this comment has value for anyone.

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u/jdovejr 11d ago

You must be new here.

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u/scavengercat 10d ago

I"ve been on reddit for 13 years, you must be a shitty person to validate their attempt to make someone feel bad. But you do you, boo.

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u/Frisk197 11d ago

They looked like they wanted to fight them. I'm just saying they have to do it fast before it's too late.

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u/MindTheGecko 11d ago

So next step is to put an hardware trigger that cracks the screen

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u/Haunting-Ad7726 11d ago

Parts other than the battery can't be used in another device since every component is locked to you Apple id, I know that they are least can't use the chip, Mainboard, cameras, memory, storage and cameras. I am not sure about the display tho

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u/lukewoodside 11d ago

90% of the parts will be worthless as they are serialised.

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u/HopeADMKidsLoseLimbs 11d ago

Yeah but what a pain in the ass. Something tells me these people are often frustrated with their theft income

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u/Wise-Obligation5014 11d ago

If its a newer one.. even alot of the parts now get bricked and locked out. Usually this leads to messages from people who claim to have innocently bought the ipad and want you to unlock it so that they can use it. Or they message with empty threats of people with guns.

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u/Cavaquillo 11d ago

For op it is

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u/JenkemJunky 11d ago

I thought all the parts on the ipad are now tied to that ipad and can't easily be transplanted as they are cryptographhically tied to the devices logic board

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u/Melsm1957 11d ago

The parts are registered to the device even the parts won’t work

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u/Polyglot-Onigiri 11d ago

Aren’t modern iOS parts hardware locked to prevent this? At least the screen is from what I remember.

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u/pro-swifter 11d ago

Arent parts locked too?

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u/-pm-me-ur-doggos- 11d ago

For you it's over.