> Theft of iPhones basically stopped being a problem because features like these makes the device a mostly useless brick once it’s marked in Apple’s systems as stolen.
People are still routinely tricked to enter their iCloud credentials into fraudlent websites designed to look just like iCloud, allowing thieves to wipe the device.
I've had this happen to three people I know. Works like this: they contact you via your contacts, pretending to be apple care specialists, ship a link, then social engineer you into entering credentials, then they disappear.
(I don't really know how they get to contacts, but this was the case in all three instances)
Can confirm, had my XR stolen. Contacted on whatsapp via a number that I put as the lost message (displays when you turn the phone on).
Story was, this girl from Italy bought my phone on ebay but then saw my message and then took it to the Apple store. Someone from the apple store would contact me to arrange recovery of my stolen phone.
Couple hours later I got a message from another number asking for me to log in to my iCloud account and arrange an appointment using this link. Opened the link and about to type my details in then I saw the domain wasn't quite right. Looked into it, realised it was a phishing attempted and bailed on that.
I know they can't access the phone whilst it's still on my iCloud account so it will remain there, in lost mode, until the heat death of the universe.
It’s not really surprising that organised criminals are trying to get around the anti-theft measures (although crazy to hear that you know that many who’ve had their phones stolen). But as you can imagine, running such social engineering schemes takes time, and success is not guaranteed, so even in this case, the anti-theft measures are making it less attractive to steal iPhones.
There’s more to be found on this new-fangled internet search engine called Google. You should try it: https://www.google.com/