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In September 2024, law enforcement dismantled iServer, a phishing service that helped criminals holding stolen or lost phones trick the original owners into surrendering cloud-account credentials. Investigators said those credentials—and, in some cases, one-time passcodes—could be used to disable Lost Mode or remove a device from its owner’s account.
What was iServer?
iServer was a phishing-as-a-service platform built around a specific criminal need: making illegally acquired phones usable by breaking their link to the original owner. Group-IB, which contributed to the investigation, described a system in which the platform’s operator sold access to “unlockers,” who in turn offered the unlocking service to other criminals holding locked phones.
It was not the phone-unlocking step itself that made iServer unusual. The service automated the credential-theft stage that could make that step possible: impersonating cloud-based mobile services to deceive a phone’s owner into handing over account information.
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- An unlocker selected an attack scenario. Group-IB says an operator could use iServer to choose a phishing scenario tailored to the target.
- The owner received a text message with a malicious link. The link passed through a redirector and led to a fake login page impersonating a cloud-based mobile service.
- The fake page collected and checked account details. iServer validated submitted credentials and could prompt for further information, including a one-time passcode.
- Criminals used the stolen information to target the device’s account protections. Investigators said the information could let them turn off Lost Mode or unlink the phone from its previous owner’s account, making the device easier to use or resell.
Group-IB also listed device identifiers such as IMEI, as well as language, owner details and contact information, among the information sought. SecurityWeek’s account likewise describes victims being asked for credentials and OTP codes after receiving phishing texts. The technical workflow here is based on those attributed descriptions; the cited sources do not present independent technical testing of the platform.
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Who did the operation arrest, and what was seized?
Europol announced the dismantling of iServer in an international operation called Operation Kaerb. Group-IB says the multi-agency operation ran from September 10 to 17, 2024, and resulted in 17 arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Spain. CERT-EU’s October 2024 brief says the operation was initiated in 2022 and reports that 921 items were seized.
| Reported figure | What it refers to | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 483,000 | Victims worldwide | Europol figure reported by SecurityWeek and summarized by CERT-EU; an attributed operational estimate, not an independently audited count. |
| More than 1.2 million | Mobile phones targeted | Law-enforcement figure reported by Group-IB and SecurityWeek; a separate measure from the victim count. |
| More than 2,000 | Criminals who used iServer to steal credentials | CERT-EU’s October 2024 summary of the operation. |
| 17 | Arrests across six countries | Europol figure reported by Group-IB and summarized by CERT-EU. |
| 921 | Items seized | CERT-EU’s October 2024 brief. |
These are institutional and law-enforcement summary figures. Victims, targeted phones and platform users describe different things, so they should not be treated as equivalent counts.
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What Operation Kaerb established—and what remains unclear
The public accounts establish that investigators dismantled iServer and describe how the service was used to harvest credentials for phone unlocking. CERT-EU says the operation began in 2022; Group-IB identifies the September 2024 action and the countries where arrests took place.
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The cited accounts do not establish iServer’s status after the takedown or specify what individual victims should do to recover or secure accounts. Group-IB’s CEO Dmitry Volkov said in the company’s September 19, 2024 announcement that the arrests had “averted significant fraud and safeguarded the personal lives of individuals across various regions.” That is the assessment of a company that contributed to the investigation, not an independent measurement of the operation’s effects.
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Sources
- SecurityWeek: Europol takes down phishing platform used to unlock stolen phones
- Group-IB: iServer phishing platform takedown announcement
- CERT-EU: October 2024 security brief
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