new iPhone 6 already activated

[newbuyer]

I appreciate your assistance. I bought a new sealed iPhone 6 from a local shop (not authorised reseller). when I opened the box everything looked perfectly new. to my surprise when i switched the phone on it took me directly to the home screen, there was no activation steps. this left me puzzled. how this could possibly happen. any idea? the serial number is recognised by apple site. i decided to erase all data and settings, no it won't activate without a sim card. is this a normal behaviour. many thanks

 

[Xeridionix]

It's quite possible that the phone may have been opened and resealed. Are you able to successfully activate the phone if you insert your SIM card? If by chance you are not able to then I would verify with your carrier that the IMEI of the phone has not been blacklisted if at all possible.

 

[fiddysent]

what is the warranty end date on apple.com?

 

[newbuyer]

thanks for your reply but how would i know if it has been resealed, is there is any risk of using it, i mean for my personal data, fingerprint iCloud etc. i haven't tried with sim yet. i bought it from another country. thanks

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

If there was no SIM, it would have warmed you that there wasn't a SIM. Is it a Verizon model? They apparently can work without a SIM(?), although I have no experience with a Verizon iPhone.

Sounds odd. It's possible to re-shrink wrap something. Where I used to live, there was a guy nicknamed 'Dirty Dick', and he did all kinds of 'shady' things with parts, software, computers. But he had the best prices in used systems and hosted the Mac user group. And I think the way that Apple shrink wraps their boxes is rather unique and hard to duplicate.

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thanks for your reply but how would i know if it has been resealed, is there is any risk of using it, i mean for my personal data, fingerprint iCloud etc. i haven't tried with sim yet. i bought it from another country. thanks

You reset it, correct? That's about as good as you can do. You are probably good, but this is what happens when you buy from an unknown/insecure source. It's not like a gun where it can be traced to nefarious and lethal activity. Knockoffs, from what I've seen, are so obvious that you would know it pretty quick.

Possibly someone bought it, had it for a while, and swapped it, or traded it in on something else...

 

[newbuyer]

the warranty ends in mid November 2015, and the three months in mid January 2015. in the settings, there is something refer to Singapore provider.. could they possibly sell activated brand-new phones?

 

[fiddysent]

the warranty ends in mid November 2015, and the three months in mid January 2015. in the settings, there is something refer to Singapore provider.. could they possibly sell activated brand-new phones?

then it was activated in Mid November somehow. It might have just been scanned at an apple store and activated while still sealed though. But yes it's been activated

 

[newbuyer]

thanks findysent, that is a bit of relief but could that be possible? do apple do that? and how do i get more information to confirm they actually can activate the phone without opening it?