Two Russians arrested for locking iPhones, iPads and MacBooks

Russian authorities have arrested two men suspected of remotely locking iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. Users could then only have the lock lifted on their device for a fee.

According to the Russian Ministry of the Interior, the two men, aged 17 and 23, living in Russia would have stolen the victims’ Apple ID credentials through phishing, among other things. Devices linked to the Apple ID were then reported stolen via Apple’s Find My Phone and provided with a new passcode. In late May, the hack came to light through messages from affected users on the Apple Support Communities forum.

When victims tried to log into their device, they were presented with a “Device hacked by Oleg Pliss” message along with a phone number and the email address elplock@gmx.com. They then had to pay $100 or $50 via PayPal to release their device. After the owner paid the money, the two men sent the owner a text message containing a new password. The arrested men would have been active for a month, according to the Russian Ministry of the Interior.

According to the Russian news site MK, the two could be traced by reviewing security footage of places where money was withdrawn. When withdrawing funds, they used a debit card linked to the account number that affected users were supposed to transfer funds to.

Computers, SIM cards and telephones were seized during house searches. A number of books were also found containing information about hacking computer systems. The two men have since confessed and are being prosecuted for gaining unauthorized access to data on a computer. It is not clear how much money the two took. According to the ministry, victims should be able to unlock their devices again, although there is no confirmation yet.