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Quick search for recent news popped this up: "The officers advised Chistancho that his bag violated the event rules and proceeded to remove it from his possess

Quick search for recent news popped this up: "The officers advised Chistancho that his bag violated the event rules and proceeded to remove it from his possession. Upon inspecting the bag, officers found a smaller black bag inside, which, when opened, revealed a metallic inner lining consistent with a Faraday bag – a device commonly used to block phone signals. To their surprise, the Faraday bag contained a total of 12 stolen iPhones of various models. One of the victims of the thefts was able to positively identify one of the recovered phones as stolen from him." * https://wsvn.com/news/local/miami-dade/two-phone-thieves-nabbed-red-handed-at-rolling-loud-music-festival-in-miami/ https://wsvn.com/news/local/miami-dade/two-phone-thieves-nab... If they can't use them for anything, what would they want with 12 iPhones? > The user can remotely brick the device using Find My. I guess that's what the faraday bag is for.

chongli 3y ago
The faraday bag will only prevent the device from being bricked while it’s inside. As soon as it goes online, it’ll phone home and brick itself. Thieves may be able to move the phones inside these bags but they’re effectively useless, so their fence value is very low. They basically need to scam people into buying these things, knowing they’ll fail as soon as they’re used. Unless you have a link to show evidence that they know how to modify the devices to prevent them from ever phoning home again? Because even if you somehow manage to reset and wipe the device offline, it’ll still phone home and brick itself as soon as it gets a connection because the ID is in hardware.
- Eisenstein 3y ago
  > Unless you have a link to show evidence that they know how to modify the devices to prevent them from ever phoning home again? Because even if you somehow manage to reset and wipe the device offline, it’ll still phone home and brick itself as soon as it gets a connection because the ID is in hardware. Would this happen if the phone were moved to a network in China? I didn't want to go into that aspect of it, but my understanding is that the phones get sent to a location in China and worked on there. I don't have any evidence on hand, but I am sure you can find some. If you want me to dig into it I can, but just not at this moment. EDIT: reddit thread * https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/r9m2bk/stolen_iphone_ending_up_in_huafa_rd_shenzhen/hnfqi98/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/r9m2bk/stolen_iphone...
  - chongli 3y ago
    Ahhh okay. So this is an international organized crime ring. That’s always going to be difficult to beat, but Apple is fighting it. The measures they’ve already taken are a pretty good deterrent against casual theft though.
    - junofan 3y ago
      The scope is huge. There are basically venture capital funds that invest in these groups now.
      - chongli 3y ago
        Yeah so unless governments step in it looks like Apple is the only one who can fight them. A hardware arms race.

chongli 3y ago

The faraday bag will only prevent the device from being bricked while it’s inside. As soon as it goes online, it’ll phone home and brick itself. Thieves may be able to move the phones inside these bags but they’re effectively useless, so their fence value is very low. They basically need to scam people into buying these things, knowing they’ll fail as soon as they’re used. Unless you have a link to show evidence that they know how to modify the devices to prevent them from ever phoning home again? Because even if you somehow manage to reset and wipe the device offline, it’ll still phone home and brick itself as soon as it gets a connection because the ID is in hardware.

Eisenstein 3y ago
> Unless you have a link to show evidence that they know how to modify the devices to prevent them from ever phoning home again? Because even if you somehow manage to reset and wipe the device offline, it’ll still phone home and brick itself as soon as it gets a connection because the ID is in hardware. Would this happen if the phone were moved to a network in China? I didn't want to go into that aspect of it, but my understanding is that the phones get sent to a location in China and worked on there. I don't have any evidence on hand, but I am sure you can find some. If you want me to dig into it I can, but just not at this moment. EDIT: reddit thread * https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/r9m2bk/stolen_iphone_ending_up_in_huafa_rd_shenzhen/hnfqi98/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/r9m2bk/stolen_iphone...
- chongli 3y ago
  Ahhh okay. So this is an international organized crime ring. That’s always going to be difficult to beat, but Apple is fighting it. The measures they’ve already taken are a pretty good deterrent against casual theft though.
  - junofan 3y ago
    The scope is huge. There are basically venture capital funds that invest in these groups now.
    - chongli 3y ago
      Yeah so unless governments step in it looks like Apple is the only one who can fight them. A hardware arms race.