Activation lock from stranger's account after erasing iPhone

[icecrystal23]

I just bought a new iPhone 6s (yay!). So I wiped my iPhone 6 to get it ready to sell. I went to Settings, Erase all Content and Settings, entered my iCloud password to disable "Find My iPhone", and then the device erased itself.

I charged the device to 100% battery, took photos for Craigslist, and turned it off. That was about a week ago. Today, I got a buyer lined up and they told me it was still showing the Activation Lock enabled at https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/

That's weird, since I properly erased the device. Some how someone else's account ended up attached to my iPhone.

Has anyone every had this experience before? I had been giving people the IMEI and serial number to verify clean ESN and AppleCare+ coverage. Is there some way they could use that information to lock the device to their account?

 

[I7guy]

Did you go to icloud.com and make sure the device is actually removed from your account?

 

[gordon1234]

The activation lock webpage doesn't show the Apple ID a phone is locked to, so why are you assuming it's locked from someone else's account? My first thought would be that the web page is just not accurately showing the state of the phone.

That said…don't give anyone your IMEI and serial number. There are all kinds of nasty things people can do with that information, like clone the IMEI onto another phone. One of the most common scams is to simply get someone else's valid info so that they can sell a stolen phone and give prospective buyers a "clean" IMEI. This may not hurt you directly, but you're enabling fraud.

It's very easy for a buyer to prove a phone is locked, and eBay will happily give them a full refund at your expense, so if people ask you for this info, politely point them to eBay's buyer protection policy and explain that for security purposes, you can't give out this information.

 

[icecrystal23]

The activation lock webpage doesn't show the Apple ID a phone is locked to, so why are you assuming it's locked from someone else's account?

I did make sure it was off of my account on iCloud.com

Also, I know it's from someone else's account because the iPhone and iTunes say so. They show a masked email that I do not recognize (it is locked to a yahoo account; I don't even have a yahoo account).

Called AppleCare, and they can unlock it since I have proof of purchase. They said this isn't the first incident they've had like this this week, so I guess something screwy is going on on their end...

 

[Bladery]

Hey.
So I already had a similar situation.
The reason behind was really easy.
I got some music of friends who bought it via iTunes so the songs are attached to their account.
Then I needed to login with their Apple ID.

Might be the same with your problem.

Asked the buyer to set his iPhone as new.