Apple’s “Find My Phone” service is meant to help users locate their device if it were to be lost or stolen. Too bad a bunch of hackers have been taking the feature for granted, exploiting “Find My Phone” by holding the Apple devices hostage. Australian newspaper, The Age, recently reported about this happening across Australia. Hackers have been locking the devices and sending a message to the owner demanding payment before its return. “Find My Phone” allows you them to log into Apple’s iCloud service, locate the device on a map, as well as track it. During this time the owner of the device may decide to lock the device, where a message will display on the screen.

The scandal has affected “iPad, iPhone, and in some cases, and Mac laptop owners in Queensland, NSW, Western Australia, Southern Australia and Victoria”. Countless, concerned users took to Apple’s Support Communities forum, where they soon found out a similar message had been sent to them. Various victims received a message, “Device hacked Oleg Pliss”, who then insisted on a PayPal payment of $50 to $100 USD/EUR (sources have said both) to the hacker’s account in order to unlock it.

Apple has remained silent on the issue so far, and PayPal ensures any funds sent to the hacker’s account would be refunded to the victim. The source of the attacks remains an unsolved mystery, yet theories range from “someone having access to Apple’s systems, to hackers having access to a database of usernames and passwords-perhaps obtained by a third party”. Besides the fact that these individuals were preyed upon for money, an even bigger threat here is the devastating effects of someone getting their hands on someone’s personal login information.