A group of hackers are allegedly threatening to remotely wipe millions of iPhones and iCloud accounts , unless Apple agrees to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom by April 7th . As Motherboard reports , the hackers – who are calling themselves the “ Turkish Crime Family ” – are demanding Attack.Ransom Apple pay a ransom Attack.Ransom of $ 75,000 ( in either the Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrencies ) , or hand over $ 100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards . Motherboard ‘ s Joseph Cox reports that one of the hackers shared screenshots of emails that had allegedly been exchanged with Apple , including one where a member of Apple ’ s security team asked if the group would be willing to share a sample of the stolen data . If emails shared by the hackers are legitimate , then it appears that Apple ’ s security team also requested that a YouTube video be removed of an unnamed member of the gang using stolen credentials to access an elderly woman ’ s iCloud account and view photos that had previously been backed up online . The alleged emails from Apple go on to underline that the technology firm will “ not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law ” . What we don ’ t know is whether the email exchanges between the hackers and Apple are real or faked , and – indeed – whether the so-called “ Turkish Crime Gang ” really has access Attack.Databreach to a large number of Apple users ’ credentials . Other than the video of the elderly woman ’ s iCloud account being broken into , there has been no evidence shared with the media to suggest that the hackers ’ claims of having gained access Attack.Databreach to a large database of Apple usernames and passwords are legitimate . However , if it ’ s true that the hackers are attempting to engage with the media in an attempt to increase their chances of a substantial payout then that would be in line with an increasingly common technique deployed by extortionists . For instance , we have discussed before how an individual hacker or hacking group known as The Dark Overlord has targeted investment banks – stealing internal documents and bringing them to the public ’ s attention in an attempt to extort more money Attack.Ransom . In another extortion Attack.Ransom attempt , The Dark Overlord stole Attack.Databreach hundreds of gigabytes of files from the Gorilla Glue adhesive company , and attempted to increase their chances of crowbarring more money out of corporate victims by sharing details with security industry media . For the record , when The Dark Overlord contacted me to help them blackmail Attack.Ransom companies , I declined . I believe that companies should do everything in their power to protect their customers and prevent criminals from profiting from extortion Attack.Ransom . We simply don ’ t know the truth of the Turkish Crime Family ’ s claims , and whether Apple users are at risk . But I do hope that the media stories will help remind Apple users of the importance of using a strong , unique password to secure their account and enable two-factor authentication to make their accounts harder to break into .