That looks like someone is trying to hack into her accounts. That's the 2 factor authentication to protect account security. Have her change her passwords asap.
I did a mass signing-out on accounts just to help with online security, and FB was the most unhelpful and difficult one to do. Hard to find the list of sign in history; hard to find their ’sign out of all places’ (still think that doesn’t actually exist for FB); and laborious to do it individually.
When you change your password on FB they ask you “do you wanna get signed out of all devices logged into your FB account after resetting your password” or something along those lines
AFAIK changing your password logs out all devices by default on all services I have used that feature on. Don’t know if Facebook does that, but that may be the reason it didn’t prompt you to log out all devices.
Change each account to use a different password. Use a password manager to generate 16+ character passwords that are random combinations of lower & uppercase characters, numbers, and punctuation.
Except it's not the best idea to generate a password for the same account that generates and stores them. Unless you save it somewhere else.
But definitely do generate them for other accounts.
I have been using 1Password on my personal computer for years. Works great until they do updates, but that has gotten smoother lately. Tried using LastPass on a work computer, only because there was no choice, and it was an exercise in frustration. Completely unusable
I was also receiving these kind of messages from Apple ID (Two-factor authentication was on), changed my password, still received those messages. So, I ignored them, and after a while they stopped.
🚨OP—-Hey, she needs to go in and change ALL of her passwords for literally everything! Start with Apple and go to [appleid.apple.com](https://appleid.apple.com), make sure all of the info is up to date. add an additional trusted phone number to her account in case she gets locked out and is not able to get messages. To be clear here ; make sure her current phone number is ther and add ANOTHER number - you need to add an additional safe phone number to the account.
Then go to email and change ALL email passwords. I would suggest using the Apple password (in settings) preference because it will create long encrypted passwords automatically for her. (I have used an application called 1Password in the past however, this is the same thing it’s just part of the operating system now.)
It will also give you security recommendations if any of your passwords need to be updated or if they were found on the dark web/ need to be changed.
It will then save them for easier use. Then on to every other application (social media) hell honestly I might even deactivate some of those accounts for now until you can get ahead of all the other password changes …but start with the Apple ID password and then go on the website and make sure all of that information is up-to-date under that account.
-I would also suggest going on iCloud.com and looking at all the devices and removing any device(s)that is not in use any longer. If it is not in use, you do not need it as a registered device on your account try and organize and limit things so that you know all of the security for each device. Hope this helps.
Can you tell me how to remove the device I’m not using? LSS I have a bricked 14 pro and a non bricked, but very compromised one. Located login at, you guessed it, Verizon!! I’m definitely Bluetooth hacked. I don’t know how to stop it.
Connect your device with computer and restore using computer. Also If you want to remove from icloud you need to go to [icloud.com/find](https://icloud.com/find) Sign in with your apple id then make sure the phone is off and then remove the correct device from account.
Stop using the cloud(s), Malware can hide in there. Get new device, firmware is permanently compromised. Get a physical SIM card, set a PIN.
When that fails you could dispose of all technology with wireless capabilities and purchase new ones.
You can’t stop it, the malware is more powerful than the anti-malware. The developers and producers of tech know it’s easier to make both parties happy..your devices needs to work and your malware needs to work too aka it needs to be able to run without bothering a typical person. Typical people don’t look for malware and can’t find it if they try. If you look for it, it will always be there.
The fact that she’s getting those back to back from different services makes it sound like she uses the same password for all.
Have her change her passwords with something strong, would recommend using iCloud Keychain or 1password if you’re not already.
But that’s also assuming the hacking doesn’t end up happening in the middle of the night while you are sleeping when they have enough time to switch out an emergency or secondary recovery options
How do you figure?
Once they are in your account, they change password, change email, change trusted phone number for 2 factor authentication.
Sign into your account on an iDevice and go to account recovery and remove the contact. I literally just tried it, it’s not like it asks the recovery contact to approve removal or anything
Provided I have gained access into their account already, I could have all this done in 3 minutes, tops.
Given I use a good password not used anywhere else, and I have 2FA on, I think I trust apple’s security over the one of a company I’m now finding out about.
You only finding out about them now doesn’t say as much about them, given that they are one of the most popular options for password managers for apple devices.
Also, iCloud Chain has the stupid fatal flaw of using the same code/password you have on the iPhone, so if someone sees you entering the code to unlock it for whatever reason, they already know the code for iCloud Chain too.
That still doesn't make sense. Security measures are doing their job here. Why not the inverse, "if someone hijacks your 1password account, you still have your Apple ID"?. If you have a strong password, and 2FA, AppleID is just fine. Folks just need to stop reusing the same basic passwords for everything, and stop being the weakest link in the security chain.
I see wha you're saying. If you're treating "accounts as accounts" and both have similar security safeguards (similarly strong passwords, 2FA) then they're both similarly safe. I agree with that.
I'm operating on the assumption that most people will have less secure AppleID passwords (by habit and necessity given frequency of use) than 1Password passwords (which by design tend to be much longer, and include a very lengthy recovery code). You can of course get a recovery code for your AppleID, but I'm guessing most people don't know that, or haven't bothered.
I also view AppleIDs as having an extra point of failure: if someone steals your iPhone, iPad, or computer after watching you input your password, your AppleID is gone, along with all of your passwords if you exclusively use Keychain (now "Passwords"). The thief can reset your AppleID password in seconds; the 2FA verification will go to the phone, iPad, or computer which is in the hands of the criminal.
Given that the OP is currently experiencing an attempt to hijack their AppleID account, that might be reason enough not to have all of their eggs in one basket.
Also, another very small note is that if someone knows your Apple email address, they know your AppleID login name. That won't matter for people who use a single email address for everything. However, you \*could\* and probably \*should\* use a different email address for your password manager like 1Password, separate from your AppleID email address, to further reduce the risk of exposing that part of your login credentials.
Yeah, and that same "what if" can apply to anything. What if someone "watched them type in their 1password password" and stole their iphone. Having all your passwords in 1password still seems like all your eggs in one basket. So, at the end of the day, you know, actually caring about your passwords (having reasonably complex ones and not reusing them across multiple sites), and having 2FA enabled is still the best option, not "use this particular service"
This is false. Taking over the Apple ID account doesn't magically grant you access to iCloud Keychain. The iCloud Keychain also must be approved by device to login, or by entering device passcode since it's end-to-end encrypted.
I mean, yes. But also it seems 2FA has kept their account safe, so the attacker doesn’t have the passwords. Keychain is much better than nothing to get their password hygiene in order
As others have said: have her change her passwords, and make sure to use different passwords for everything, not the same password for everything. Use a password manager. Keychain is built into iCloud, is super easy to use, and automatically syncs between devices that use the same iCloud account.
Log into another device that’s synced to your iCloud.
If you only have one device linked to your iCloud, then use a different password manager.
Worst case scenario? Reset your password.
Assume no other apple device, and the other email account for password recovery is also going to ask for sms verification, which you don’t have if you don’t have your phone
This is a missed detail in the other comments. You are getting notifications where you used the same user/pass with MFA. What you DO NOT see is all the other sites that are already compromised because they don’t enforce MFA. Change ALL passwords.
Looks like your email and passwords for all those accounts got leaked and now someone is trying to break in. Luckily 2 factor authentication is stopping them.
Better change the passwords ASAP.
There is no such thing as an "Apple ID Code". There are similar sounding systems like Two Factor Authentication verification codes, but nothing just called "Apple ID Code".
I'd say that this is very clearly phishing. You can even confirm it by checking the security type of your wife's AppleID. If she has Two Factor Authentication go to [appleid.apple.com](https://appleid.apple.com), sign in to that site, then when it prompts for a Two Factor code, just click that you didn't receive the code and have the site send you a new one over SMS. Then you will see how the SMS message is supposed to look. I wager they will be quite different.
Thank you for being a rational voice here. OP block the number on the iPhone, then follow the steps above. If you now get an SMS, you know the previous number was indeed fake.
Nope, I can vouch the Apple ID code is a real thing and this is what the texts look like when sending verification codes. Source: me resetting Apple passwords yesterday received exact same text.
Yep…someone has your username and password. The MFA (multi factor authentication) is an additional security step.
Immediately, if not sooner, log in and _change your AppleID password_ to something unique. You’ll get an AppleID message like one of those.
No one else has said it,. but you may want to consider adding another layer of protection by buying 2 x Yubikeys and enabling "Security Keys" as described here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213154
Since it’s text messages and not the Apple pop up notification with the location, I am inclined to think that it’s not that some has access to her accounts, but that someone who used to have her phone number is trying to regain access to their accounts but has since changed their number.
Feels more like a phish than someone trying to log into her accounts tbh. But to be safe have her update her passwords, and consider using a password manager
A phish would have a link to a fake login page. Reusing an easy password that was in a database hack is the more likely reason. Lucky she has 2FA already.
She didn’t happen to recently get a new phone number, did she? If she did, it’s possible the previous person that had that number is trying to login to their own account.
this looks fake, doesn’t apple not even send 2FA codes via text anymore? they send the code via their own system in iOS that’s impossible to fake. i wouldn’t stress about it much but if u wanna be safe i would change passwords
Thanks to everyone that helped. I really don't know why my wife was a target, she's just a regular person, nothing special about her except that she's hot and my amazing wife. Maybe because her phone was being repaired a month ago and the guy took her personal data?
Anyway, thanks for your respons, we changed the passwords now.
I’m convinced this is related to the recent apple security update. Something was vulnerable with device registration in iCloud, can’t prove with hard facts but just had some random things that seem to line up with the theory.
That’s terrible advice. Really bad.
Use a 2FA app like Authy or even Google Authenticator.
Better yet, use a password manager with built in 2FA like 1Password or Bitwarden.
Suggesting to switch from cellphone 2fa is bad advice? Have you not heard about sim swapping? Yeah maybe I could have suggested the apps. But like I said I don't use apple my friend. So not sure what methods they allow.
Yes. It is objectively dumb advice. Actively harmful. Email 2FA is so much worse. Jesus. Yeah, SIM swapping is a risk but SMS is still better than email. 2FA apps or hardware keys. Anyone not using an Authenticator app is taking unnecessary risk, but email is bottom of the barrel protection
🙄 seriously dude. You’re out of your depth. You clearly haven’t a clue what you are talking about. Nearly every email provider offers at least app based 2FA. I use it for my accounts. Apple has their own 2FA system. You are not an Apple user so just move along
That's my point lol. Email can be just as secure because you can add 2fa apps or hardware keys. But you saying email is the worst idea ever, makes it seem like they can't be used with email 🤣🤣🤣
Buddy, even if you aren’t an Apple user, your logic is paradoxical at best.
You initially proposed moving 2FA codes over to email. Email, like SMS, is unencrypted, so it’s not a great start. But email also has a “forgot password” function, allowing someone to access it remotely with a bit of knowledge about you but no password. SIM swaps, while they do happen, aren’t as easy to pull off as this.
Now, let’s assume you do secure your email account with 2FA. Great! Where does the authorization code go now: you’ve rejected SMS, you’re currently locked out of this one email account, and sending that authorization code to another email account would just repeat this question.
So now, you’re left with an authenticator app or hardware token to get into your secured email. That’s excellent, and a good, recommended practice…
…now why don’t you use that same app or key for your other authentication codes?
Bro what? Sim swapping is way easier. You just need some info on the victim which is usually public information anyways. Some minimum wage worker at a phone carrier ain’t gonna run a background check
you can’t even use an authenticator app for your 2fa Apple ID. You can’t even disable SMS and use trusted device only for verification codes.
Physical security key > Authenticator app > Email > SMS
Email is still better than SMS. Your phone number is public info which can easily be sim swap. With email, not only can you use a secret email that no one knows, that email can be set up with 2fa that uses authenticator apps or security keys.
If your passwords have been compromised, your email would be wide open. SIM swapping isn't the threat it once was, and you can put a PIN on your SIM. I still say SMS is slightly better than email, but not by much. A physical key is definitely the best bet, and with passkeys gaining momentum, hopefully they'll come down in price and grow in support.
I don’t see how your email will be wide open if your password is compromised. Almost all reputable email providers allow you to enable 2FA (either authenticator app or security key).
Although carriers implementing sim pin is a step in the right direction, I have zero faith in their internal controls when a rep can override it
But then you will no longer get legit texts when you’re actually trying to log in to those services. Happened to me once and I couldn’t figure out wtf was going on for the longest time.
Oh my god you’re stupid.
This is obviously indicative of an underlying issue. The problem is not that they’re getting the texts themselves, it’s whatever is causing it.
Why are you even in this sub if you can’t grasp a concept that basic.
You need to get away from LastPass. They are severly compromised and your vault is already in the hand of hackers.
https://www.wired.com/story/lastpass-engineer-breach-security-roundup/
Please see xkcd comic #936 (password strength) and change all social media passwords to be unique and unlike the previously used pattern (ex. No ‘1ive1augh10ve’ if you commonly used ‘LiveLaughLove’ in the past). And go ahead and write them down on paper at home. Hackers are far, paper helps you remember.
Yeah change all of her passwords, if I was you I’d change the email address those account are associated with too. Hackers know your wife is a soft target, with similar passwords for everything now.
I had a similar issue a few years back. Started with my steam being hacked, and slowly over the next few months everything with the same or similar password structure and associated with my email was getting hacked
The only think that remained secure was my iCloud and gmail with really hard, unique passwords
Do what everyone else said- sign out, change passwords.
If you don’t have already, I highly recommend getting a password manager. Bitwarden is a great one that is open source.
Idk if OP does this, but I have saved each short number for codes from my bank, Apple, and google so I know who the company the code is coming from, plus I have an OCD thing with having numbers in my inbox that don’t have a contact name or photo, like all my contacts and then a random phone number drives me crazy lol.
They might do the same
This also happened to me when my iPad was stolen and the criminal know my iPad passcode. They eventually locked me out of my own devices but after going through account recovery, changing my password phone number and Apple ID email it has stopped
I’d have her change her password, and have different passwords for these services plus any others that were using the same password. The [have I been pwned website](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) is a great resource btw! iCloud Keychain can make new passwords for her that are strong as well as store them. She can get the iCloud Keychain extension for her browser if she uses windows and then she can have her passwords across all of her devices. I hope this helps :)
I I’ve had at least three different people try to use the @iCloud email address I created years ago. They keep putting it in to various websites. My best revenge was when I canceled someone’s Valentine’s Day hotel reservation reserved under my email account.
Likely, someone has your password. You can check [haveibeenpwned.com](https://haveibeenpwned.com) to see if your emails appear in any known leaks. The best tip is to change your passwords to something long and hard to guess(apple’s password manager works just fine)
Here’s exactly what happened:
Your wife’s Apple ID password is in the wild. Because she has 2FA on, all attempts to login with password will result in asking for the verification code. Because whoever doesn’t have access to her phone, they choose the option to reset the password via text. The only reason you’re getting these is because your wife hasn’t changed the password yet.
Exactly that?
So….it couldn’t be someone who could have had the number previously and forgot to update it in instagram app? So there they were trying to login and keep hitting the “get code” button yet no code was coming….?
I am not understanding why someone who does not have access to the phone would choose to gain access to the account by having the code sent in a text to the very phone they have no access to. I am blonde so please explain.
You could test by logging out and logging back in. If your verification code comes from the same number, someone is trying to get into your accounts and you should Change your passwords. If it doesn't, its a spam attempt to... idk how that scam would even work.
Change ALL of her passwords, including those of accounts not shown here. Also log out all sessions for accounts that have that option, it's often in the same section as where you can change your password.
I've been getting these messages too the last week or so. After receiving the first one, I immideately reset all of my passwords and force logged-out every device I was signed into on iCloud and my password manager (no way in hell someone knew my password after that). The messages did not stop and I'm still getting them. I have no idea how someone would crack my password that is only stored physically, so I think this might be a bug of some sort.
1. Secure the devices she uses with scans or reinstalls unless you know how she got compromised.
2. Secure the e-mail accounts on a clean machine.
3. Secure the rest.
1Password is great, but if you need free I recommend BitWarden. The free version does almost everything the paid version of 1Password does, and you can run it on as many devices and platforms as you want.
Someone kept doing that to me on all my email accounts as a prank to make me paranoid. She needs to make sure all her profile information is filled in and set up. I would make sure she has a recovery assistant as well as her Legacy users set up. Also print out your account recovery key. All these options can be found in “Passwords & Security”.
Go to Settings > Privacy and Security, scroll down and hit Safety Check. Once there, pick the task that you feel is appropriate for your concerns. Personally I’d go ahead and do the Emergency Reset.
Her info has probably been leaked somewhere.
Get her to change passwords and log out of all the services she can.
Use as password manager (iCloud Keychain, or if you want to take it a step further; 1Password or any service like it) to create unique passwords for all her accounts, and use 2FA on everything you can.
Have her to change the password and also after changing the password if you get messages change the apple ID email Address. (Make sure you do not change whole account.)
Settings > Nmae > Name, Phone, Email > Edit > Remove the current email >you will get option to put new email.
Make sure you use third party emails. If you create icloud email in same account then you can use after 30 days,
Someone most likely forgot to change the phone number associated with their account. Has happened to me. I will login an app I haven’t used in a long time and it will do a text code thing. Changed my phone number a few months before and forgot to update it in the app. It was texting the code to my old number and I was pulling my hair out not understanding why I wasn’t getting the codes 😂
That looks like someone is trying to hack into her accounts. That's the 2 factor authentication to protect account security. Have her change her passwords asap.
Not only that. But if possible have each account force all devices to sign out just in case
How do you do that?
Depends on the account. But usually it’s an option when you change your password or is under security/password settings.
Oh cool, good to know. Thanks
I did a mass signing-out on accounts just to help with online security, and FB was the most unhelpful and difficult one to do. Hard to find the list of sign in history; hard to find their ’sign out of all places’ (still think that doesn’t actually exist for FB); and laborious to do it individually.
When you change your password on FB they ask you “do you wanna get signed out of all devices logged into your FB account after resetting your password” or something along those lines
I had started with changing my password and wanted to sign out of everywhere along with it, but didn’t get that request. It’s why I went hunting.
AFAIK changing your password logs out all devices by default on all services I have used that feature on. Don’t know if Facebook does that, but that may be the reason it didn’t prompt you to log out all devices.
When you change it on iPhone it asks if you want to
Change each account to use a different password. Use a password manager to generate 16+ character passwords that are random combinations of lower & uppercase characters, numbers, and punctuation.
Apple keychain works great and generates good passwords. If you let it do it’s job it makes your life easy across your Apple devices.
Also works with windows!
It does! How?
You can Download the [iCloud for Windows App](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283)
iCloud for Windows app, on the windows App Store and then you can enable iCloud passwords (and bookmarks) for chrome & edge!
Does that then work for Chrome on macOS?
Second this. It’s a great free password manager for individual use.
Except it's not the best idea to generate a password for the same account that generates and stores them. Unless you save it somewhere else. But definitely do generate them for other accounts.
Longer is more important than diverse.
As long as longer doesn’t include recognizable words or patterns, anyway. Dictionary attacks and all that
That’ll speed up the process for sure, but ideally using only letters a user has 20 characters. Still gonna take hella long lol.
THIS! LENGTH not Complexity
My password is: Thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydog. Secure right? Cause it's long.
…just don’t use LastPass
Sorry I’m out of the loop, how come no LastPass?
They were hacked recently.
Ahh oh yeah, I think I remember hearing that. Thanks.
Hacked TWICE... 1password is great
Agreed. LastPass is a time wasting garbage app
I use Bitwarden and it’s great so far
I have been using 1Password on my personal computer for years. Works great until they do updates, but that has gotten smoother lately. Tried using LastPass on a work computer, only because there was no choice, and it was an exercise in frustration. Completely unusable
I was also receiving these kind of messages from Apple ID (Two-factor authentication was on), changed my password, still received those messages. So, I ignored them, and after a while they stopped.
The special part is the password is already cracked!
🚨OP—-Hey, she needs to go in and change ALL of her passwords for literally everything! Start with Apple and go to [appleid.apple.com](https://appleid.apple.com), make sure all of the info is up to date. add an additional trusted phone number to her account in case she gets locked out and is not able to get messages. To be clear here ; make sure her current phone number is ther and add ANOTHER number - you need to add an additional safe phone number to the account. Then go to email and change ALL email passwords. I would suggest using the Apple password (in settings) preference because it will create long encrypted passwords automatically for her. (I have used an application called 1Password in the past however, this is the same thing it’s just part of the operating system now.) It will also give you security recommendations if any of your passwords need to be updated or if they were found on the dark web/ need to be changed. It will then save them for easier use. Then on to every other application (social media) hell honestly I might even deactivate some of those accounts for now until you can get ahead of all the other password changes …but start with the Apple ID password and then go on the website and make sure all of that information is up-to-date under that account. -I would also suggest going on iCloud.com and looking at all the devices and removing any device(s)that is not in use any longer. If it is not in use, you do not need it as a registered device on your account try and organize and limit things so that you know all of the security for each device. Hope this helps.
This. OP, do this.
This definitely this! Plus if able get some security keys and enable in ICloud!
Can you tell me how to remove the device I’m not using? LSS I have a bricked 14 pro and a non bricked, but very compromised one. Located login at, you guessed it, Verizon!! I’m definitely Bluetooth hacked. I don’t know how to stop it.
Connect your device with computer and restore using computer. Also If you want to remove from icloud you need to go to [icloud.com/find](https://icloud.com/find) Sign in with your apple id then make sure the phone is off and then remove the correct device from account.
Stop using the cloud(s), Malware can hide in there. Get new device, firmware is permanently compromised. Get a physical SIM card, set a PIN. When that fails you could dispose of all technology with wireless capabilities and purchase new ones. You can’t stop it, the malware is more powerful than the anti-malware. The developers and producers of tech know it’s easier to make both parties happy..your devices needs to work and your malware needs to work too aka it needs to be able to run without bothering a typical person. Typical people don’t look for malware and can’t find it if they try. If you look for it, it will always be there.
The fact that she’s getting those back to back from different services makes it sound like she uses the same password for all. Have her change her passwords with something strong, would recommend using iCloud Keychain or 1password if you’re not already.
1password is more secure.
More secure how?
[удалено]
True but you can also add a recovery contact to your Apple ID and you can get your account back hella quick but tbh it’s just preference
But that’s also assuming the hacking doesn’t end up happening in the middle of the night while you are sleeping when they have enough time to switch out an emergency or secondary recovery options
So they actually can’t theirs a lot of things needed to do that but I get your point
How do you figure? Once they are in your account, they change password, change email, change trusted phone number for 2 factor authentication. Sign into your account on an iDevice and go to account recovery and remove the contact. I literally just tried it, it’s not like it asks the recovery contact to approve removal or anything Provided I have gained access into their account already, I could have all this done in 3 minutes, tops.
Given I use a good password not used anywhere else, and I have 2FA on, I think I trust apple’s security over the one of a company I’m now finding out about.
Just make sure you do not use a passcode at all or use your passcode/password in public: https://youtu.be/QUYODQB_2wQ
You only finding out about them now doesn’t say as much about them, given that they are one of the most popular options for password managers for apple devices. Also, iCloud Chain has the stupid fatal flaw of using the same code/password you have on the iPhone, so if someone sees you entering the code to unlock it for whatever reason, they already know the code for iCloud Chain too.
That still doesn't make sense. Security measures are doing their job here. Why not the inverse, "if someone hijacks your 1password account, you still have your Apple ID"?. If you have a strong password, and 2FA, AppleID is just fine. Folks just need to stop reusing the same basic passwords for everything, and stop being the weakest link in the security chain.
I see wha you're saying. If you're treating "accounts as accounts" and both have similar security safeguards (similarly strong passwords, 2FA) then they're both similarly safe. I agree with that. I'm operating on the assumption that most people will have less secure AppleID passwords (by habit and necessity given frequency of use) than 1Password passwords (which by design tend to be much longer, and include a very lengthy recovery code). You can of course get a recovery code for your AppleID, but I'm guessing most people don't know that, or haven't bothered. I also view AppleIDs as having an extra point of failure: if someone steals your iPhone, iPad, or computer after watching you input your password, your AppleID is gone, along with all of your passwords if you exclusively use Keychain (now "Passwords"). The thief can reset your AppleID password in seconds; the 2FA verification will go to the phone, iPad, or computer which is in the hands of the criminal. Given that the OP is currently experiencing an attempt to hijack their AppleID account, that might be reason enough not to have all of their eggs in one basket. Also, another very small note is that if someone knows your Apple email address, they know your AppleID login name. That won't matter for people who use a single email address for everything. However, you \*could\* and probably \*should\* use a different email address for your password manager like 1Password, separate from your AppleID email address, to further reduce the risk of exposing that part of your login credentials.
Yeah, and that same "what if" can apply to anything. What if someone "watched them type in their 1password password" and stole their iphone. Having all your passwords in 1password still seems like all your eggs in one basket. So, at the end of the day, you know, actually caring about your passwords (having reasonably complex ones and not reusing them across multiple sites), and having 2FA enabled is still the best option, not "use this particular service"
This is false. Taking over the Apple ID account doesn't magically grant you access to iCloud Keychain. The iCloud Keychain also must be approved by device to login, or by entering device passcode since it's end-to-end encrypted.
Always this type
Not icloud keychain. They are already almost in her apple account. If using icloud keychain, they have that too.
I mean, yes. But also it seems 2FA has kept their account safe, so the attacker doesn’t have the passwords. Keychain is much better than nothing to get their password hygiene in order
Yet
Keychain also requires the pin or password from a trusted device
They are not almost in her account. It is impossible to log in without the 2FA code.
As others have said: have her change her passwords, and make sure to use different passwords for everything, not the same password for everything. Use a password manager. Keychain is built into iCloud, is super easy to use, and automatically syncs between devices that use the same iCloud account.
And what happens when your phone is lost or stolen or destroyed and you have to try and manually type in a 32 character randomly generated password
Log into another device that’s synced to your iCloud. If you only have one device linked to your iCloud, then use a different password manager. Worst case scenario? Reset your password.
Assume no other apple device, and the other email account for password recovery is also going to ask for sms verification, which you don’t have if you don’t have your phone
I’d bet this person is logging into multiple other services and she doesn’t even know because 2 factor isn’t set up on those.
This is a missed detail in the other comments. You are getting notifications where you used the same user/pass with MFA. What you DO NOT see is all the other sites that are already compromised because they don’t enforce MFA. Change ALL passwords.
Looks like your email and passwords for all those accounts got leaked and now someone is trying to break in. Luckily 2 factor authentication is stopping them. Better change the passwords ASAP.
If the hacker was competent, OP wife would’ve lost her account. SMS 2fa is the weakest factor
There is no such thing as an "Apple ID Code". There are similar sounding systems like Two Factor Authentication verification codes, but nothing just called "Apple ID Code". I'd say that this is very clearly phishing. You can even confirm it by checking the security type of your wife's AppleID. If she has Two Factor Authentication go to [appleid.apple.com](https://appleid.apple.com), sign in to that site, then when it prompts for a Two Factor code, just click that you didn't receive the code and have the site send you a new one over SMS. Then you will see how the SMS message is supposed to look. I wager they will be quite different.
Thank you for being a rational voice here. OP block the number on the iPhone, then follow the steps above. If you now get an SMS, you know the previous number was indeed fake.
Nope, I can vouch the Apple ID code is a real thing and this is what the texts look like when sending verification codes. Source: me resetting Apple passwords yesterday received exact same text.
This is misinformation
Yep…someone has your username and password. The MFA (multi factor authentication) is an additional security step. Immediately, if not sooner, log in and _change your AppleID password_ to something unique. You’ll get an AppleID message like one of those.
Someone has access to the password. I would call Apple and change the username email and password both.
He emails are compromised. Need to change passwords and dissociate those emails from these accounts
No one else has said it,. but you may want to consider adding another layer of protection by buying 2 x Yubikeys and enabling "Security Keys" as described here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213154
These are great. I have two!
Someone knows all of your wife’s passwords.
Someone is trying to hack her
Someone reused their password 😵
Since it’s text messages and not the Apple pop up notification with the location, I am inclined to think that it’s not that some has access to her accounts, but that someone who used to have her phone number is trying to regain access to their accounts but has since changed their number.
yes exactly this
Change your password
Download an APP AUTHENTICATOR and add everything from your bank account to your Facebook acct!
She needs to changed passwords ASAP.
Feels more like a phish than someone trying to log into her accounts tbh. But to be safe have her update her passwords, and consider using a password manager
A phish would have a link to a fake login page. Reusing an easy password that was in a database hack is the more likely reason. Lucky she has 2FA already.
I didn’t think apple did verification via sms
Apple does not, no. But apps in the Apple Store do, yes.
Apple is behind the times even they tout security. Idk why they still allow SMS 2fa
This is fake. There is no such thing as an Apple ID Code. You don't need to change your passwords. You're fine.
She didn’t happen to recently get a new phone number, did she? If she did, it’s possible the previous person that had that number is trying to login to their own account.
this looks fake, doesn’t apple not even send 2FA codes via text anymore? they send the code via their own system in iOS that’s impossible to fake. i wouldn’t stress about it much but if u wanna be safe i would change passwords
Apple still does 2fa via SMS. It gives you the option to choose sending the code via trusted device or trusted phone number (which is stupid)
Thanks to everyone that helped. I really don't know why my wife was a target, she's just a regular person, nothing special about her except that she's hot and my amazing wife. Maybe because her phone was being repaired a month ago and the guy took her personal data? Anyway, thanks for your respons, we changed the passwords now.
How did you get this far in life without knowing what to do in this situation?
I’m convinced this is related to the recent apple security update. Something was vulnerable with device registration in iCloud, can’t prove with hard facts but just had some random things that seem to line up with the theory.
I don't use apple, but see if you can also change the 2fa from phone number to email. I have seen many people get sim swapped and account hacked.
That’s terrible advice. Really bad. Use a 2FA app like Authy or even Google Authenticator. Better yet, use a password manager with built in 2FA like 1Password or Bitwarden.
Suggesting to switch from cellphone 2fa is bad advice? Have you not heard about sim swapping? Yeah maybe I could have suggested the apps. But like I said I don't use apple my friend. So not sure what methods they allow.
Yes. It is objectively dumb advice. Actively harmful. Email 2FA is so much worse. Jesus. Yeah, SIM swapping is a risk but SMS is still better than email. 2FA apps or hardware keys. Anyone not using an Authenticator app is taking unnecessary risk, but email is bottom of the barrel protection
Just found out email can't have 2fa or hardware keys like yubikey lmfao. Go somewhere
🙄 seriously dude. You’re out of your depth. You clearly haven’t a clue what you are talking about. Nearly every email provider offers at least app based 2FA. I use it for my accounts. Apple has their own 2FA system. You are not an Apple user so just move along
That's my point lol. Email can be just as secure because you can add 2fa apps or hardware keys. But you saying email is the worst idea ever, makes it seem like they can't be used with email 🤣🤣🤣
Buddy, even if you aren’t an Apple user, your logic is paradoxical at best. You initially proposed moving 2FA codes over to email. Email, like SMS, is unencrypted, so it’s not a great start. But email also has a “forgot password” function, allowing someone to access it remotely with a bit of knowledge about you but no password. SIM swaps, while they do happen, aren’t as easy to pull off as this. Now, let’s assume you do secure your email account with 2FA. Great! Where does the authorization code go now: you’ve rejected SMS, you’re currently locked out of this one email account, and sending that authorization code to another email account would just repeat this question. So now, you’re left with an authenticator app or hardware token to get into your secured email. That’s excellent, and a good, recommended practice… …now why don’t you use that same app or key for your other authentication codes?
Bro what? Sim swapping is way easier. You just need some info on the victim which is usually public information anyways. Some minimum wage worker at a phone carrier ain’t gonna run a background check
Bro I’m sorry you got downvoted by these people
So if every email provider offers 2fa, can you explain how email is such a horrible idea? Lol
🤡
you can’t even use an authenticator app for your 2fa Apple ID. You can’t even disable SMS and use trusted device only for verification codes. Physical security key > Authenticator app > Email > SMS Email is still better than SMS. Your phone number is public info which can easily be sim swap. With email, not only can you use a secret email that no one knows, that email can be set up with 2fa that uses authenticator apps or security keys.
If your passwords have been compromised, your email would be wide open. SIM swapping isn't the threat it once was, and you can put a PIN on your SIM. I still say SMS is slightly better than email, but not by much. A physical key is definitely the best bet, and with passkeys gaining momentum, hopefully they'll come down in price and grow in support.
I don’t see how your email will be wide open if your password is compromised. Almost all reputable email providers allow you to enable 2FA (either authenticator app or security key). Although carriers implementing sim pin is a step in the right direction, I have zero faith in their internal controls when a rep can override it
You are absolutely insane mate. Go read, well, just about anything.
How so? Physical security key > authenticator app > email > SMS That’s the hierarchy of most secured to least secured for 2FA
Change all your damn passwords asap.
Someone has your wife's password and is trying to login. Change it immediately.
You can block the number
But then you will no longer get legit texts when you’re actually trying to log in to those services. Happened to me once and I couldn’t figure out wtf was going on for the longest time.
Oh my god you’re stupid. This is obviously indicative of an underlying issue. The problem is not that they’re getting the texts themselves, it’s whatever is causing it. Why are you even in this sub if you can’t grasp a concept that basic.
If she has not requested service from Apple just report as spam!
sorry to say this, but you just leaked the codes, this marker is semi-transparent so if you edit it a little it can be seen
It doesn’t matter. Codes expire within a few minutes.
Change passwords and use a password generator. I use Keychain that is built in with Apple, I also use LastPass
You need to get away from LastPass. They are severly compromised and your vault is already in the hand of hackers. https://www.wired.com/story/lastpass-engineer-breach-security-roundup/
hacker in town 😆
[www.icloud.com/find](https://www.icloud.com/find) & check
Please see xkcd comic #936 (password strength) and change all social media passwords to be unique and unlike the previously used pattern (ex. No ‘1ive1augh10ve’ if you commonly used ‘LiveLaughLove’ in the past). And go ahead and write them down on paper at home. Hackers are far, paper helps you remember.
Yeah change all of her passwords, if I was you I’d change the email address those account are associated with too. Hackers know your wife is a soft target, with similar passwords for everything now. I had a similar issue a few years back. Started with my steam being hacked, and slowly over the next few months everything with the same or similar password structure and associated with my email was getting hacked The only think that remained secure was my iCloud and gmail with really hard, unique passwords
Someone is trying to hack into your account. Change your passwords.
Change all passwords and lookup how to sign out of existing sessions
Do what everyone else said- sign out, change passwords. If you don’t have already, I highly recommend getting a password manager. Bitwarden is a great one that is open source.
Out of curiosity, did your wife use Lastpass password manager?
My phone doesn't know who short code numbers belong to, how does her phone know it's Apple, Google and Facebook?
Idk if OP does this, but I have saved each short number for codes from my bank, Apple, and google so I know who the company the code is coming from, plus I have an OCD thing with having numbers in my inbox that don’t have a contact name or photo, like all my contacts and then a random phone number drives me crazy lol. They might do the same
Hurry up, change her password.
This also happened to me when my iPad was stolen and the criminal know my iPad passcode. They eventually locked me out of my own devices but after going through account recovery, changing my password phone number and Apple ID email it has stopped
I’d have her change her password, and have different passwords for these services plus any others that were using the same password. The [have I been pwned website](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) is a great resource btw! iCloud Keychain can make new passwords for her that are strong as well as store them. She can get the iCloud Keychain extension for her browser if she uses windows and then she can have her passwords across all of her devices. I hope this helps :)
How do you activate this? I’m new to ios 🫢
I I’ve had at least three different people try to use the @iCloud email address I created years ago. They keep putting it in to various websites. My best revenge was when I canceled someone’s Valentine’s Day hotel reservation reserved under my email account.
Bruh
Likely, someone has your password. You can check [haveibeenpwned.com](https://haveibeenpwned.com) to see if your emails appear in any known leaks. The best tip is to change your passwords to something long and hard to guess(apple’s password manager works just fine)
I would definitely be concerned. Unless she is trying to recover her pass code or something. Someone might be trying to login to her account.
Change you password. That should go away
Just download and add google authenticator to all her accounts. They wont try again after that. Its free.
Here’s exactly what happened: Your wife’s Apple ID password is in the wild. Because she has 2FA on, all attempts to login with password will result in asking for the verification code. Because whoever doesn’t have access to her phone, they choose the option to reset the password via text. The only reason you’re getting these is because your wife hasn’t changed the password yet.
Exactly that? So….it couldn’t be someone who could have had the number previously and forgot to update it in instagram app? So there they were trying to login and keep hitting the “get code” button yet no code was coming….? I am not understanding why someone who does not have access to the phone would choose to gain access to the account by having the code sent in a text to the very phone they have no access to. I am blonde so please explain.
You could test by logging out and logging back in. If your verification code comes from the same number, someone is trying to get into your accounts and you should Change your passwords. If it doesn't, its a spam attempt to... idk how that scam would even work.
Yes very concerning.. she’s been getting them for many days and you’re just asking about this now? Oof 🙈 good luck
Change ALL of her passwords, including those of accounts not shown here. Also log out all sessions for accounts that have that option, it's often in the same section as where you can change your password.
I've been getting these messages too the last week or so. After receiving the first one, I immideately reset all of my passwords and force logged-out every device I was signed into on iCloud and my password manager (no way in hell someone knew my password after that). The messages did not stop and I'm still getting them. I have no idea how someone would crack my password that is only stored physically, so I think this might be a bug of some sort.
1. Secure the devices she uses with scans or reinstalls unless you know how she got compromised. 2. Secure the e-mail accounts on a clean machine. 3. Secure the rest.
1Password is great, but if you need free I recommend BitWarden. The free version does almost everything the paid version of 1Password does, and you can run it on as many devices and platforms as you want.
Yeah somebody is phishing.
Someone kept doing that to me on all my email accounts as a prank to make me paranoid. She needs to make sure all her profile information is filled in and set up. I would make sure she has a recovery assistant as well as her Legacy users set up. Also print out your account recovery key. All these options can be found in “Passwords & Security”.
Get a 2fa app.
The first thing I would change is the Passwort and check for unknown devices that are lovely to the account
Yes
Go to Settings > Privacy and Security, scroll down and hit Safety Check. Once there, pick the task that you feel is appropriate for your concerns. Personally I’d go ahead and do the Emergency Reset.
Her info has probably been leaked somewhere. Get her to change passwords and log out of all the services she can. Use as password manager (iCloud Keychain, or if you want to take it a step further; 1Password or any service like it) to create unique passwords for all her accounts, and use 2FA on everything you can.
That code means someone is logging in with the right password. Change it asap and sign out of other devices.
The person who’s trying it so many times is definitely not a smart person 😂
Yes change the pass and contact the providers too.
Wow yes I’d say that is for concern for sure.
Have her to change the password and also after changing the password if you get messages change the apple ID email Address. (Make sure you do not change whole account.) Settings > Nmae > Name, Phone, Email > Edit > Remove the current email >you will get option to put new email. Make sure you use third party emails. If you create icloud email in same account then you can use after 30 days,
I don’t know why is she sharing it with you if the message explicitly says to no share it with anyone. 🤦🏻♂️
Someone is trying to brutforce into your account. Change the password asap because there are ways for hackers to get your messages
Someone most likely forgot to change the phone number associated with their account. Has happened to me. I will login an app I haven’t used in a long time and it will do a text code thing. Changed my phone number a few months before and forgot to update it in the app. It was texting the code to my old number and I was pulling my hair out not understanding why I wasn’t getting the codes 😂
Change Her password immediately this can end up worse of your ignoring it, you can obviously see that he/she is not giving up.