My phone (iOS 16.6.1) got stolen mid-September, I marked it as lost immediately. Next day I received phishing SMSs to login so I could track latest location of my phone which i didn't fall for. My phone remained off, location was in the same spot until maybe 2 weeks ago when I checked Find My app and noticed it showed "No Location Found". I figured that it showed that status because the phone had been off for close to 2 months. On Friday morning (17th) I received 3 more phishing SMSs but somehow status on Find My app had not changed from "No Location Found" which I ignored, did not click on the links at all. On Saturday morning I received an email stating that Find My had been disabled on my phone. Now the phone is missing on my device list so now I know it's been erased/wiped out. I'd like to understand how my icloud account got hacked into/compromised without me sharing any details and any best practices because I thought I had bricked my phone. I plan to blacklist the device on my local carriers this week, hope this is possible?
Was the "Find My has been disabled on your iPhone" email genuine? Could it have been another scam/phishing email?
Go to the iCloud website and check if there are any unfamiliar devices, if there are, remove them and change your Apple ID password immediately. It's possible for someone to remove your device from iCloud without knowing your Apple ID password or compromising the account, but the method to do so is complex and involves serial spoofing.