Help. My 84 Year Old Mom was In Fact Hacked. What now?

In addition to the earlier reply…

As for what happened here, assume catastrophic compromise. All passwords. All social media app tokens. All mail. Any payment card info saved somewhere accessible. Everything.

What to do? Erase the device contents, and restore backup from prior to the breach, and change all passwords. Review the Personal Safety Guide and Safety Check, too.

I’d seriously consider muting or entirely disabling communications with any unknown contacts; enabling parental controls. Screen Time and Focus are useful here, and maybe MDM supervised equipment.

The information uploaded can be used to attempt phishing and other social engineering attacks on contacts, as well. Let the contacts know they might be getting phishing by a pretender.

I tried to keep some folks on their own familiar Apple gear for longer than I should have. Switching then to a cordless phone or maybe to a feature phone, and to access-constrained gear sooner would have been a better choice.

• Personal Safety User Guide - Apple Support (Also Safety Check)

Hello~ Start here by clicking on below…

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

If you think your Apple Account has been compromised - Apple Support

Depending on the information given out you may want to start playing close attention to personal accounts and very closely monitoring her credit information.

~Katana-San~

kellbellbyday wrote:

My mother was completely hacked. She answered a text on her iPhone having to do with an Apple Security issue. She's 84. She gave out a lot of info and they had her open her phone and her old computer.

She wasn't hacked - the attackers didn't get in through holes in her phone's or computer's security.

She fell for a phishing message, and the attackers fooled her Into compromising her own security. These types of criminals love preying on old people who don't know a lot about computers, who may be too trusting of strangers, and who may be suffering some mental decline because of advanced age. They figure that tricking the user of the device is easier than actually attacking the security of the device, and go for the "easy score."

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

I don't know what they had her do with her phone and computer, but they likely compromised important accounts ("she gave out lots of info") and they may also have tricked her into installing remote access software on her PC and/or her phone. Identity theft, and theft of money directly from her accounts, now seem like real possibilities.

I'm not sure what to tell you about securing the computer and the phone, but she should definitely secure her Apple Account, and contact any financial institution (bank, credit card company, brokerage), where the crooks might have tricked her into revealing the information that they would need to access her account, and rip her off. If there is any doubt, contact the banks/brokerages (using known good contact information, not information from a text message, or an e-mail, that could be false contact information provided by scammers). Tell them of the incident and examine financial statements / online statements closely for any evidence of fraud. The financial institutions may want your mother to close accounts under current numbers and reopen them under new ones – which could be a pain, but is something they may want to do to help thwart fraud attempts by the scammers.

If you think your Apple Account has been compromised - Apple Support

U.S. Federal Trade Commission: IdentityTheft.gov

She may want to contact the three main credit bureaus and have them put fraud alerts or freezes on her credit.

U.S. Federal Trade Commission – IdentityTheft.gov – Credit Bureau Contacts