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Before dropping her phone off at the Apple store for a screen repair, Gloria Fuentes deleted all social media, financial and banking apps from her device. She simply couldn’t get rid of a feeling that something bad will happen. Fuentes would’ve wiped out all of her photos too, but she ran out of time.
Upon arriving at the store in Bakersfield, California, she handed over her phone to an employee. However, he began “messing around with it for quite a while,” the woman wrote on Facebook the next day. “I didn’t really pay any mind to it because I just figured he’s doing his job, looking into my insurance info or whatever.”
The employee then asked for her passcode twice. Even though Fuentes didn’t think much of it at the time, her initial fear was justified. When she got home, Fuentes turned on her phone and stumbled upon a message that had been delivered to an unknown number. She said the Apple employee had gone through her device, retrieved a private photo and sent it to himself.
More info: Facebook
In an emailed statement, Apple told The Washington Post “we are grateful to the customer for bringing this deeply concerning situation to our attention. Apple immediately launched an internal investigation and determined that the employee acted far outside the strict privacy guidelines to which we hold all Apple employees. He is no longer associated with our company.”
What makes this news even more alarming is the fact that this case isn’t an isolated one. As Mashable noted, last month, a 24-year-old Verizon store employee in Utah was arrested on suspicion of a third-degree felony after texting himself “several nude photos” from a client’s camera roll. The unidentified victim was there to upgrade her iPhone 5 to an iPhone 8.
A link that connects these and other similar cases is that the devices were left alone with the employees. It’s something we’ve all done without giving it much thought. However, do we have a choice?
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People couldn’t figure out how anyone would do such a thing
What do you think ?
Random Panda 5 years ago (edited)
The employee should be fired, but at this point deleting any kind of private information like that from your devices should be the first thing you do before handing them over for repairs because people suck. Also I'm laughing at the guy saying if she was in Europe companies would laugh at her. With the GDPR regulations that employee and the company would be s**t out of luck here.
Marina 5 years ago
i was thinking the same about europe. That `fact` seemed a bit off
Load More Replies...
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 5 years ago
I never allow other people to repair my devices. Mainly because it costs money. Apple's stance against right to repair is sinful in my eyes. They are deliberately using a form of technical obfuscation to make it difficult to work on them. That puts the "qualified" techs in a position of power and there is always going to be someone to abuse a position of power if given the chance.
Lori Savoca 5 years ago
Their "qualified" techs don't know their a*s from their elbows. My friend had a phone with a broken screen that got locked because the passcode wasn't visible (IPhone 4s days). Wanted to back it up before getting a new phone upgrade (cheaper than reaping the screen) They wanted her to repair the screen to put in her passcode and prove it was hers. I had a phone that fell in water but had a good screen... took her phone and my old one, swapped out a few parts, brought the phone back and told the guy to unlock it. He asked how is this the same phone and I told him what I did.. he then asked why I didn't work for Apple... I said because I have a conscience and would never rip people off for a living.
Load More Replies...
Massmusic 5 years ago
So weird cause it's policy at Apple to erase the phone in front of the customer when it gets repaired. They ask if you have a backup if not they help you do a backup to your iCloud. Than they wipe the whole phone. when you get your repaired phone back they help you put everything back on it.
Random Panda 5 years ago (edited)
The employee should be fired, but at this point deleting any kind of private information like that from your devices should be the first thing you do before handing them over for repairs because people suck. Also I'm laughing at the guy saying if she was in Europe companies would laugh at her. With the GDPR regulations that employee and the company would be s**t out of luck here.
Marina 5 years ago
i was thinking the same about europe. That `fact` seemed a bit off
Load More Replies... Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 5 years ago
I never allow other people to repair my devices. Mainly because it costs money. Apple's stance against right to repair is sinful in my eyes. They are deliberately using a form of technical obfuscation to make it difficult to work on them. That puts the "qualified" techs in a position of power and there is always going to be someone to abuse a position of power if given the chance.
Lori Savoca 5 years ago
Their "qualified" techs don't know their a*s from their elbows. My friend had a phone with a broken screen that got locked because the passcode wasn't visible (IPhone 4s days). Wanted to back it up before getting a new phone upgrade (cheaper than reaping the screen) They wanted her to repair the screen to put in her passcode and prove it was hers. I had a phone that fell in water but had a good screen... took her phone and my old one, swapped out a few parts, brought the phone back and told the guy to unlock it. He asked how is this the same phone and I told him what I did.. he then asked why I didn't work for Apple... I said because I have a conscience and would never rip people off for a living.
Load More Replies... Massmusic 5 years ago
So weird cause it's policy at Apple to erase the phone in front of the customer when it gets repaired. They ask if you have a backup if not they help you do a backup to your iCloud. Than they wipe the whole phone. when you get your repaired phone back they help you put everything back on it.
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