Apple Apologizes After Stolen Apple ID Credentials Aided in Phishing Attack in China

Apple has formally apologized to users in China over the hacking of some Chinese accounts in a series of phishing scams that hit the country last week. The successful phishing attacks used stolen Apple IDs to gain access to customer funds, leading to "a small number of...users' accounts" being accessed through these scams (via The Wall Street Journal).

appleid
In a statement shared in China today, Apple said: "We are deeply apologetic about the inconvenience caused to our customers by these phishing scams."

When news of the incident emerged last week, Chinese mobile payment companies Alipay and WeChat reported that hackers were able to take an unknown amount of money from accounts using stolen Apple IDs. Some users were said to have lost up to 2,000 yuan ($288) following the breach.

According to Apple's new statement, these victims had not enabled two-factor authentication, making it easier for the hackers to gain access to their accounts. Apple didn't confirm how many users were affected in China, how much money was stolen in total, or how the hackers gained access to the Apple IDs in question. The company encouraged all users to enable two-factor authentication on their accounts to ensure further security protections are in place.

China remains important to Apple's overseas expansion plans, but the company has faced numerous speed bumps in this regard over the years. In 2018, Apple moved Chinese iCloud data to state-owned China Telecom, which brought up user privacy concerns; faced an issue with an overabundance of illegal gambling apps on the Chinese iOS App Store; and is now attempting to clamp down on iMessage spam in the country.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

markfc Avatar
88 months ago
What are Apple apologising for?
Not forcing 2FA?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
88 months ago
It seems like everyday for almost two week US tech giants are having to scramble to deal with bad-news stories emanating from their operations and dealings with China.

Nothing to see here of course. ('https://qmap.pub') :rolleyes:
Did you read the article or just see “China” in the title and filled in the blanks?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
88 months ago
I hate the blind defense of Apple some MR users provide, but this… really doesn’t seem like Apple’s fault.

1. This wasn't much of a "hack" if the users had to give their info to services not actually hosted by Apple.
2. Apple provides two-factor-authenticaltion as a means to reduce your risk of giving this information over.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lershac Avatar
88 months ago
It’s also a big cultural thing in China... a lot can be forgiven if an apology is forthcoming.... not like here in the USA where an apology is an admission of guilt and an invitation for lawsuits.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Omega Mac Avatar
88 months ago
It seems like everyday for almost two week US tech giants are having to scramble to deal with bad-news stories emanating from their operations and dealings with China.

Nothing to see here of course. ('https://qmap.pub') :rolleyes:
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ronntaylor Avatar
88 months ago
Just curious why this is in the political and social forums?
Any mention of China gets some frothing at the mouth.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)