If you lend your child an iPhone to play games, parents risk losing their Apple accounts

(Dan Tri) - Invitations to receive free items in games can cause children to accidentally reveal passwords and verification codes, putting their parents' Apple accounts at risk of being taken over.

From in-game gifts to the risk of losing your Apple account

Lending your child an iPhone or iPad to play games or watch videos is a habit of many families. However, ads for free gifts and items appearing on the screen can be a trap to steal parents' Apple accounts.

While playing a game, your child may come across an invitation to receive free diamonds, skins, or rare items. To receive the reward, the website requires logging into an Apple account or entering a verification code sent to the device.

Unaware of the risks, children may follow instructions, unintentionally providing important information to criminals.

Letting children borrow their iPhone or iPad to play games puts parents at risk of having their Apple accounts stolen if the child accidentally reveals their login information (Illustration: Doan Thuy).

Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu (Hieu PC), a cybersecurity expert, warned that this is one of the tricks parents need to pay special attention to.

"The most common are invitations to receive free skins, diamonds, game items through in-game ads, social networks or messages from strangers. Children are directed to a fake page asking to log in to their Apple ID, or are lured into reading the authentication code sent to the game admin on the device. Some crooks also guide children to install configuration profiles or applications outside the App Store to take control of the device," Mr. Hieu said.

Invitations to receive free items and diamonds in the game can be a trick to lure children to visit fake websites (Illustration: Doan Thuy).

According to experts, clicking on a suspicious link does not mean your account will immediately be stolen.

"The account is only taken over when the child enters the password, reads the authentication code, installs a strange application or profile, or clicks 'Allow' according to the intruder's instructions. However, parents should still check the device, change the password if in doubt, and teach their children to close the page as soon as they see a strange login request," Mr. Hieu explained.

Apple ID is now renamed Apple Account, used to access many services such as iCloud, App Store, iMessage and synchronize personal data.

Therefore, if the account is compromised, users not only face the risk of information disclosure but may also lose control of linked devices.

Can crooks lock iPhone remotely to extort money?

According to Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu, when taking over an Apple account, thieves can try to access synchronized data on iCloud or take advantage of the remote device management feature.

"They can view all synced data on iCloud: photos, contacts, messages, notes, saved passwords and device location. If they can change the password, they can use 'Find iPhone' to remotely lock or erase the device. An activation-locked device cannot be used, then the crooks blackmail the victim to 'unlock'. This is a scenario we have recorded quite a lot," experts warn.

Thieves can take advantage of a hijacked Apple account to remotely lock the iPhone, and even demand ransom to unlock the device (Illustration: Doan Thuy).

However, the ability to access data or control the device depends on the security layers that Apple applies, including additional authentication and data encryption.

Experts say users need to be wary if they suddenly receive an unsolicited authentication code, an email notifying them of a password change, a phone number or a linked email address.

Other signs include a strange device appearing in the login list, not being able to access your account, iPhone going into Lost Mode, or unusual transactions occurring.

When detecting suspicious signs, parents need to quickly change the password from a trusted device, check the list of linked devices and contact Apple's official support department.

In particular, do not provide verification codes or money transfers to people who claim to be able to get their accounts back.

How to protect iPhone and iPad when used by children

To limit the risk, Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu recommends that parents use the Guided Access feature.

This feature helps limit the device to one application, preventing children from arbitrarily switching to another application. Users can enable it by going to Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, then setting up a passcode.

The Guided Access feature helps limit iPhone and iPad to one application when parents lend the device to children (Photo: Apple).

Additionally, parents should turn on Screen Time to limit apps and control content and purchases.

Using separate accounts for children through Family Sharing also helps limit the risk of affecting parents' personal accounts.

Parents need to enable two-factor authentication, do not arbitrarily share passwords, verification codes or device unlock codes.

Experts recommend that parents enable two-factor authentication and do not provide passwords and Apple Account verification codes to strangers (Illustration: Doan Thuy).

More importantly, children need to be guided not to log into unfamiliar websites, not to follow requests to receive gifts in games, and to ask adults for advice when suspicious messages appear.

Because sometimes, what crooks target is not the child's game account, but the Apple account containing the parents' personal data.