Stolen iPhone 6: Another iCloud account shows up on replacement iPhone

[frank8880]

Hello,

Three weeks ago my iPhone 6 was stolen.

My lost iPhone 6 was 4-digit passcode protected. It had find my iPhone so I then put it in lost mode and requested remote wipe but it hasn't been wiped yet since I haven't received the confirmation mail telling me this.

Phone insurance provided me, in 2 weeks time, an identical iPhone. Problem is: it didn't come in the original apple box, it just came in a plain white box, with the S/N and IMEI on an sticker assuring it hasn't been opened.

Is this refurbished? how can I know?

A thing that might make me think it's refurbished is: I tried to set up the phone just like the one I had, so I proceeded to do an iCloud restore. This restore was from 2 weeks before I lost it. I proceed to put in my iCloud username and password then I accept license agreement etc but then: it asks me for the password of a bizarre iCloud account MARC AT SMYR DOT NET and then I thought: wtf: is this account linked to this possibly refurbished phone, is it linked to my old phone so possibly the phone's thief's mail??

I then proceeded to "skip this step" and then iPhone restored properly. But c'mon, what is up with that weird account????

I have never let anybody put in their Apple ID on my phone or computer. I tried to contact Apple but they have no idea and tell me: "it's possible I let somebody put in their username to download an app".. WHICH IS NOT EVEN POSSIBLE, I KNOW I HAVEN'T.

INPUTS? THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!

 

[eyoungren]

What country are you in?

If you are in the US, the white box replacements are a mix of new and refurb. The ratio depends on how long the iPhone has been available for sale. You'll probably get a refurb if it's the iPhone 4s or 5. But right now, there are very few, if no refurbs for the 6s.

That said, understand that it really doesn't matter - unless your refurb did not come from Apple. Apple refurbs are stripped and given an entirely new case. All components are tested and any that fail are replaced. Finally, once completely assembled the refurb goes through a QC check that not even the new phones go through.

So, an Apple refurb is just as good (if not better) than a new phone. You cannot even tell the difference.

As to the iCloud issue, my guess here would be that whomever originally had the phone did not turn Find My iPhone off before they restored the phone and handed it over to Apple. That can happen I suppose and if the genius didn't check then that would be Apple's error.

And Apple isn't going to admit that to you.

My assessment, short of any details you have purposely left out or don't feel are relevant.

 

[iPad Retina]

Hello,

Three weeks ago my iPhone 6 was stolen.

My lost iPhone 6 was 4-digit passcode protected. It had find my iPhone so I then put it in lost mode and requested remote wipe but it hasn't been wiped yet since I haven't received the confirmation mail telling me this.

Phone insurance provided me, in 2 weeks time, an identical iPhone. Problem is: it didn't come in the original apple box, it just came in a plain white box, with the S/N and IMEI on an sticker assuring it hasn't been opened.

Is this refurbished? how can I know?

A thing that might make me think it's refurbished is: I tried to set up the phone just like the one I had, so I proceeded to do an iCloud restore. This restore was from 2 weeks before I lost it. I proceed to put in my iCloud username and password then I accept license agreement etc but then: it asks me for the password of a bizarre iCloud account MARC AT SMYR DOT NET and then I thought: wtf: is this account linked to this possibly refurbished phone, is it linked to my old phone so possibly the phone's thief's mail??

I then proceeded to "skip this step" and then iPhone restored properly. But c'mon, what is up with that weird account????

I have never let anybody put in their Apple ID on my phone or computer. I tried to contact Apple but they have no idea and tell me: "it's possible I let somebody put in their username to download an app".. WHICH IS NOT EVEN POSSIBLE, I KNOW I HAVEN'T.

INPUTS? THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!

Try searching it on Apple's iCloud website if it does have find my iPhone on it.

 

[frank8880]

What country are you in?

If you are in the US, the white box replacements are a mix of new and refurb. The ratio depends on how long the iPhone has been available for sale. You'll probably get a refurb if it's the iPhone 4s or 5. But right now, there are very few, if no refurbs for the 6s.

That said, understand that it really doesn't matter - unless your refurb did not come from Apple. Apple refurbs are stripped and given an entirely new case. All components are tested and any that fail are replaced. Finally, once completely assembled the refurb goes through a QC check that not even the new phones go through.

So, an Apple refurb is just as good (if not better) than a new phone. You cannot even tell the difference.

As to the iCloud issue, my guess here would be that whomever originally had the phone did not turn Find My iPhone off before they restored the phone and handed it over to Apple. That can happen I suppose and if the genius didn't check then that would be Apple's error.

And Apple isn't going to admit that to you.

My assessment, short of any details you have purposely left out or don't feel are relevant.

I'm in France. The company which replaced the phone is an insurance company for many ISP: Orange, and many french ones. It is called SPB and has a reputation for not being good and using Apple screens when replacing screens, etc. as I've seen on some forums.

It's an iPhone 6, so yeah, it has been out for a while, 1 year. I called Apple's customer service and on representative told me it only has Apple Care until the end of this year. But on a previous call I had made another "GENIUS" told me it had until october next year. All non sense.

 

[frank8880]

Try searching it on Apple's iCloud website if it does have find my iPhone on it.

It is not "Activation Locked". The phone is free to use.

For me this is really weird that another account "showed up". The phone came with iOS 8.3 and I updated it to iOS 9 before trying to do the iCloud restore.

 

[frank8880]

So, apart from the refurbished question, the most important thing I would like to know is: is that email address related to someone who used my old phone after I lost it or is that email address related to this "new" phone?

Thanks!

 

[aristobrat]

If you had the option to skip that step (when it asked about the other AppleID) then chances are your iCloud backup contained something purchased through the App or Music store from that AppleID.

I have some songs in my iTunes library on my computer that were orig purchased from another AppleIDs. They sync to my iDevices without any problem, but everytime I do an iCloud restore it prompts me for the password to those accounts (which I don't know). I have to Skip This Step multiple times.

 

[frank8880]

If you had the option to skip that step (when it asked about the other AppleID) then chances are your iCloud backup contained something purchased through the App or Music store from that AppleID.

I have some songs in my iTunes library on my computer that were orig purchased from another AppleIDs. They sync to my iDevices without any problem, but everytime I do an iCloud restore it prompts me for the password to those accounts (which I don't know). I have to Skip This Step multiple times.

I understand but those chances are almost non existent in my case. Nobody uses my devices but me. Nobody has set up any Apple ID neither on my mac nor my Phone.

This is really weird.

On top of that, I would understand it if it were an Apple ID of somebody of my household or somebody I know but this is a weird Apple ID from someone I don't know.


:/

 

[eyoungren]

Well, it sounds like the insurance company screwed up and accepted a restored iPhone without the original owner turning off Find My iPhone.

If it truly bothers you, backup in iTunes, log out of all your Apple accounts (turning off Find My iPhone). Restore the phone as new and see if it happens again. If it does not then restore from your backup.

If it does occur again then speak with your insurance company and demand a new replacement.

 

[C DM]

Well, it sounds like the insurance company screwed up and accepted a restored iPhone without the original owner turning off Find My iPhone.

If it truly bothers you, backup in iTunes, log out of all your Apple accounts (turning off Find My iPhone). Restore the phone as new and see if it happens again. If it does not then restore from your backup.

If it does occur again then speak with your insurance company and demand a new replacement.

This doesn't sound like Activation Lock since it didn't come up in the beginning and only as part of putting the backup onto the phone. It sounds more like what's described in another reply:

If you had the option to skip that step (when it asked about the other AppleID) then chances are your iCloud backup contained something purchased through the App or Music store from that AppleID.

I have some songs in my iTunes library on my computer that were orig purchased from another AppleIDs. They sync to my iDevices without any problem, but everytime I do an iCloud restore it prompts me for the password to those accounts (which I don't know). I have to Skip This Step multiple times.