Need to wipe an iPhone 8 for legitimate reasons

[rocketbagel]

My aunt works for a company and recently an extremely shady person left their phone at the building and proceeded to disappear for several weeks and accumulate $6,000 on the company card. He ended up charging a car rental to it and reappearing all the way in Louisiana (we live in Oklahoma). His phone needs to be wiped of all things involving the company and my aunt says I can have the phone if I can wipe it. I’d really like to get this phone because it’s a huge upgrade over my current phone. How can I wipe it without the password?

[knightslugger]

...Why doesn't the company just wipe the phone? ...it is their device afterall...

[Snipergod87]

Your company should have mobile device management software installed that will allow them to do that.

 

If it is not the businesses phone I wont help as it is still theft.

[Nas]

3 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

...Why doesn't the company just wipe the phone? ...it is their device afterall...

I'd imagine whoever had the phone changed the password, and the company doesn't want to waste any more resources dealing with this issue.

[TetraSky]

There are ways to format an iphone through itunes. I've done it before and it works just fine

 

Quote

1. Connect your iPhone to computer.
2. Open iTunes and click on the device tab at the upper left corner on iTunes.
3. Once done, click on “Restore iPhone” and follow the instructions to erase iPhone without passcode.

 

Edit : Nevermind, I did this on an iOS 5 device, this doesn't work anymore with iOS 7 and up due to activation lock. Your best bet is either through Remote Management or with proof of purchase.

[lieder1987]

2 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

There are ways to format an iphone through itunes. I've done it before and it works just fine

 

 

I think this will icloud lock it if I remember correctly.

[SenKa]

If OP has access to another device on the same iCloud account, it can be remotely wiped and removed from Find My iPhone via that device.

 

Open FMiP, and select the device

 

First it should say "Wipe Device", then after you do that it will give you an option to "Remove Device" Do this, and the device will present itself to you as if it were brand new with no iCloud.

 

If OP does not, then he will more or less be screwed if he does not know the password to the iCloud. If he does, just format it in iTunes, provide the password during setup, then log out of the phone being sure to disable Find My iPhone before doing so. It will then delete all ties to the iCloud acc and be like it was never touched.

[SenKa]

3 hours ago, lieder1987 said:

I think this will icloud lock it if I remember correctly.

It will.

[jake9000]

If this is company owned and you can produce the proof of purchase, Apple will unlock it. I've done this a few times with company devices. 

Otherwise, the only way Apple will process an activation lock issue is to help the original owner get signed in to their icloud account. 

[mr cheese]

The best option is to see if the company can wipe it through their Remote Management software through Apple. Otherwise, there is no way to wipe the phone without triggering an iCloud lock (unless of course the phone has iCloud off or Find My iPhone off), which cannot be undone unless you are willing to potentially scam yourself on the Tor black market with some shady deals.

 

@jake9000's method is also a good idea.

 

 

[.Apex.]

1 hour ago, rocketbagel said:

How can I wipe it without the password?

If the iPhone is connected to an iCloud account then there's no way of getting it back, you format it by going into DFU mode and connecting it to Itunes, but if it has an iCloud account connected to it, it will ask for that iCloud account even after you format, which makes the phone completely useless

 

You can try Jake's idea though

[mr moose]

OP gets a free phone for wiping evidence from a criminals phone at the request of an Aunt who works for the company that was defrauded.   Sorry but that doesn't sound legit at all.

 

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, mr moose said:

OP gets a free phone for wiping evidence from a criminals phone at the request of an Aunt who works for the company that was defrauded.   Sorry but that doesn't sound legit at all.

 

 

The real question is who defrauds a company for only $6000. Think big people! You are risking your job for $6000?

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, floofer said:

The real question is who defrauds a company for only $6000. Think big people! You are risking your job for $6000?

It sounds like the aunts job is at risk because of this $6000.   I think she might have been duped by a con man and the phone contains the evidence.

 

EDIT: and if she wasn't duped by a conman then it would seem either her relationship to this guy is incriminating or the company is happy to erase evidence and give away the only device of value he left (doesn't seem very logical to me).

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It sounds like the aunts job is at risk because of this $6000.   I think she might have been duped by a con man and the phone contains the evidence.

 

EDIT: and if she wasn't duped by a conman then it would seem either her relationship to this guy is incriminating or the company is happy to erase evidence and give away the only device of value he left (doesn't seem very logical to me).

 

Depends on the insurance the company has. A claim like this could increase the rates due to security concerns not stated in their coverage. Could not be worth it over a year. Wanting to get rid of the evidence in case of audit. Probably only for a large company though. Could be a number of explanations in the world.

 

[Guest]

BTW, you can erase an iPhone w/o bypassing activation or device management, but you can't use it. (Or limited usability with company managed devices). Just restore using iTunes in recovery mode. Congrats, now you can just sell it for parts .

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, floofer said:

Depends on the insurance the company has. A claim like this could increase the rates due to security concerns not stated in their coverage. Could not be worth it over a year. Wanting to get rid of the evidence in case of audit. Probably only for a large company though. Could be a number of explanations in the world.

 

That actually doesn't make it much more legit, hiding criminal activity to save on insurance fees. 

 

EDIT: I mean regardless of what the company wants to do, and regardless of the persons guilt, it's still no there property to give away.

[RoseLuck462]

Just destroy the phone, the company is already out $6k, whats $800 more?

[lewdicrous]

Why would you hide evidence?

If the cops are gonna investigate, then they'll benefit from the having the phone; for text messages and whatnot. 

Unless there's something to hide, which adds more questions than answers..

 

Also, if it's a company phone then you can't just keep it..

I don't know what's more shady, the guy who stole $6k or you being asked to get rid of the phone. 

[knightslugger]

9 hours ago, lewdicrous said:

I don't know what's more shady, the guy who stole $6k or you being asked to get rid of the phone. 

I have to agree with this. It's entirely possible that the company wouldn't  pursue criminal charges (corporate lawyers are notoriously expensive if the defendant pleads not guilty), but if the phone has been recovered and is not considered evidence, it should be destroyed by a professional so that in the event it happens again on a different device that was wiped by this service, they know who to go after and identify any other devices that are compromised as well.

 

Your Aunt is not handling this correctly. This was a breech. I don't know of a single corporation that doesn't have a structured technology policy that employees are to follow in the event of a breech.

[Cringelix]

Honestly, at this point it seems like the phone is much better off as a paperweight. I had a similar situation but never really found a solution to unlocking the phone since there is so many restrictions on what companies can do nowadays for privacy.