Stolen iPhone

Question

Stolen iPhone

Is there a way that Apple can help me locate my phone that's been stolen by letting me know its last location? My phone got stolen and I reported it to the necessary authorities but they said they needed someone to use it in order to track it. I got an email today regarding an Activation Lock on my stolen phone which I had put in Lost Mode using Find My. I called the authorities again to let them know about the development but they said they needed to confirm that it was still in the country and that if it was I should then remove the activation lock so that the phone can be used thus allowing them to track it.

I can't find any Customer service email to send this inquiry to so I am posting this question here.

iPhone XR, iOS 13

Posted on Feb 12, 2020 6:10 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,190 points

Feb 12, 2020 6:54 AM in response to Christine____

Sorry, no. Apple does not get involved in tracking or locating stolen or lost devices. They cannot enter your user account to see where it is any more than a random neighbor can.

That it's not showing now means the phone either ran out of power, or the crook turned it off. Just leave the phone locked and no one will be able to access your personal information. At least, not without a correct, supernatural guess at both the email address and password.

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,190 points

Feb 12, 2020 6:36 AM in response to Christine____

That email was not from any police department. It was from whoever stole your phone. They're trying to get you to unlock it so they can erase the phone. That way, they have a working phone they can use themselves or sell it.

If you already gave the crooks your Apple ID and password, the phone is gone.

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Answer 3

Feb 12, 2020 6:41 AM in response to Kurt Lang

I know it wasn't from the police. The information around unlocking it, however, is from the officer that is in charge of the case who I spoke to. My phone is still very much locked and I did not give anyone my password.

Because my phone has been offline for sometime, I tried to check if the location had updated when I saw the email about the Activation Lock. The email doesn't mention where the attempt at unlocking it is happening but I assume that Apple can see where that was. There's a high chance that someone has tried to erase it but is now struggling to get past this lock, but the act of erasing it seems to tamper with my ability to locate it using Find My. I hope this makes sense. I just want to find out where it was when someone tried to get past the Activation Lock because its location hasn't showed up in Find My.

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Answer 4

Feb 12, 2020 6:45 AM in response to Christine____

No one can bypass Activation Lock without the proper Apple ID and password to go with it. The device also can't be erased by anyone except for you unless you had the option on to erase device after 10 failed passcode attempts.

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Answer 5

Feb 12, 2020 6:42 AM in response to Christine____

Per Apple on what to do if your Apple ID has been compromised: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204145

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