Suspicious Circumstances around Mobile Phone Repairer

Hi,

Looking for some opinions regarding very suspicious circumstances around iPhone repair and data recovery.
Girlfriend's iPhone 13 started playing up one day with horizontal lines showing up across the screen, touchscreen not responding etc.
Initially, calls were still coming through but it eventually died. She tried to connect to her Macbook in the hope she may recover the contents of the phone, but that attempt failed.
Unfortunately, she had iCloud sync turned off so nothing was ever backed up to iCloud either.
After consulting with Apple Store and basically being told there's nothing they can do apart from offering a replacement phone at discounted price, she found a phone repair/data recovery guy and left the phone with him.

Initially she was told he will be able to get back to her with the findings and whether the recovery attempt will be successful within 2-3 days.
Then when she followed up after a few days, she was told that he confirmed water damage (she dropped the phone in the bathroom basin with water running and her screen was already cracked so I presume water got in) and that they attempted to repair and tested it but the phone turned off immediately so they have to work out what's wrong and re-test.
She followed up couple of times in the next 2-3 weeks but got told they were still working on it and to just wait patiently.
Fast track to today, she was told that they manage to repair it but there is zero data on the phone and he tried to convince her that she must have done a factory reset, which seems impossible given that nothing worked on the phone before she handed it over. She was obviously upset as she asked for their data recovery service, not simply to repair the phone back to working order. It appeared that they made a boo-boo and somehow did a factory reset. They also tried to convince her that they have no way of resetting the data without her passcode, which I don't think is true?(can someone confirm? I"m not an Apple person myself but quick search seems to suggest there are ways)

After the discussion got heated, she ended the conversation by saying she'll come back to him with what she decides to do. Then when she spoke to him the second time today to say she will meet him at his house (the repair business is run out of his home), he claimed that he is currently overseas and the phone is with him as well as they take all the phones overseas and gets them repaired overseas and then they are brought back to Australia. This rang alarm bells with me. At no point, he mentioned that repairs are not done on-site and taken overseas with no consent from the customers. He then said he will be back in the country in the next week or two so she could pick up the phone then.

A few key points of concern/to address:

1) He never informed her that phones are taken overseas for repair. He didn't seem to think this was a problem nor think that he is under any obligation to inform her this.

2) She left the phone with him for data recovery service, not a simple repair. Now they have somehow deleted all the data on it and just repaired the phone. What now? They still want to be paid the full quoted amount and basically saying either forfeit the phone or pay the quoted amount and pick up the phone

3) About a week ago, she had a suspicious transaction of small amount ($3-4) appear on her debit card, which is set up on her phone in Apple Wallet. She immediately contacted the bank and cancelled the card and transferred all money out of the account just in case. Is this just a coincidence? My gutfeel says otherwise. When she reported the fraudulent transaction to the bank, they asked if the card is set up on any device digital wallet and when she told the bank about the phone being with the repair shop, they recommended that she call them and check that the device is still with them and secure.
She called the repair guy right after this to confirm and he confirmed that the device is still with him (didn't say it's overseas) and just said the work should be completed in the next week or within the month at the latest.
What are the chance he's taking these phones offshore to steal data off the phones and doing something illegal? Maybe he wiped the phone clean after the hack?

4) Any recommended actions from here on? I think it's safe to say the data is gone permanently so the only decision is whether she just pays the guy and pick up the phone or forfeit it and just buy a new phone.

Comments

  • +21

    Phark me TLDR please

    • +9

      A user seeks advice on a concerning iPhone repair and data recovery experience involving their girlfriend's iPhone 13. The phone exhibited screen issues and eventually became unresponsive. After unsuccessful attempts with the Apple Store, they turned to a third-party repair service. The repair service initially promised data recovery but later claimed water damage and performed a repair, resulting in data loss. The user suspects foul play as the repair service failed to disclose their practice of sending phones overseas for repair. Additionally, a suspicious transaction on their girlfriend's debit card raises further concerns. They seek advice on potential actions to take, considering the loss of data and the repair service's questionable practices.

      • +2

        I love AI.😍

    • OP screwed

      • +1

        Iphone repair = kaching, kaching

  • +5

    The phone was essentially a paper weight when she had no local or cloud backups and apple 'genius' support said there was nothing they could do.

    The rest of that wall of text could be abbreviated down to 'and then took it to a dodgy backyard repairer who was also unable to restore the data'

    Any recommended actions from here on?

    Cut your losses, take the valuable backup lesson, go buy a new phone?

  • +5

    I'm more curious what happened after the pothole incident

    • +3

      I hope none of the responses to this thread are toxic.

      • And are considerate

      • Yep because every idiot in that thread said i won't get reimbursed but i did with very little effort. Holy crap. Why did i ask the ones with no clue when i could resolve it myself lol

        • +2

          So you could resolve it yourself… yet asked everyone for advice… and they're the idiots…

          Just checking I've got the logic right here?

      • Your asking for too much on this site , aren't you .

    • -3

      Oh the one you said i have no leg to stand on? Happy to provide an update and tell you i received a full compensation. So no thanks to you. Keep living your life missing out on your rights lol

      • +3

        So why post this for ?

      • +1

        I choose to miss out on potholes instead :)

  • Pay for the cloud backups. Phones are pretty central to modern life, it's worth backing up.

  • +3

    he claimed that he is currently overseas and the phone is with him as well

    What the ….

  • +5

    She should have taken Apple's word for it… free and expert advice. Sold it for parts. Now she has no phone. These backyard dealers are scammy as. He probably knows she'll leave it with him.

    • Apple are notoriously anti-repair, and people like Louis Rossman has a well documented history of being able to get data from Apple devices that Apple says are unrecoverable.

      Just because OP took the unit to a dodgy repairer doesn't mean Apple's "free and expert advice" was correct.

  • +2

    To answer one of your question, yes it's possible to restore an iPhone without credentials to a factory wiping everything in the process, and bypass iCloud blocks should it be disabled. However not aware of a way to access the existing data without credentials though.

    • Can you bypass them on newer phones? I thought it was only temporary for iPhone X and below because of jailbreak

      • Did it on an iPhone 14 with iOS 17.x (not sure of exact number).

        There's a few ways, can submit IMEI to a paid site which supposedly strips it's association from iCloud, there's some software available otherwise.

        It wasn't my iPhone I helped with and I don't have any idevices myself to really have a play around with all the options out there.

        • Oh that's interesting, I wonder how they do it

          • @ldd-mn: Yeah same. I've only an ancient iPhone 6 lying around with an outdated iOS only app which I need so am afraid of not being able to re-download it if I mess with it. Otherwise I'd be keen to block the phone as lost and try a few other methods just for my own knowledge/experience.

            The IMEI strip is pretty interesting and costs $20 which is a small price to pay. The software solution was very dumbed-down with only a handful of steps to follow, doesn't really explain what's happening in the background, but if it works it works.

  • Can you please give a more detailed explanation?
    Its to condensed.

    • -4

      Sorry it's too complex for someone who confuses deductions from dedication 🤣

      • Are you referring to BewareoftheDog or your girlfriend?

        • Parents maybe… Confusion with deposit and withdrawal methods 🤔

  • +2

    No backups? Lesson learnt!

    too many DA's are just plain ignorant when it comes to backing up irreplaceable data on their phones and computers.

    It's not a problem until it's a problem, right?

    As whether to pay for the service, I wouldn't. This person sounds shady and dishonest. They didn't do what they said they would.

  • +2

    Consider it a dead phone that couldn't have been repaired. Cancel any associated cards on that phone. Change all your passwords.

  • Hope you learnt to back up.

    Man when the lines started coming up and touchscreen started going wonky you should really have reached straight for the backup cable. Maybe even when it was dropped in water with a cracked screen. Weekly backups wouldn't have hurt right from the start if the data is THAT important.

    Nothing can be done now, but in future there are labs in all states that will professionally recover data from waterlogged phones but it's not cheap.

    Backup is always the cheapest recovery you can do.

    As others have said cancel cards and change passwords now.

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