A friend had their new iPhone stolen by a porch pirate. I know it’s possible to remotely disable an iPhone you already own/use, but can Apple disable a phone that gets stolen before it’s even turned on by the rightful owner?
Nope. All you can do is report the theft. Apple will not help you.
I think if your friend has the IMEI number for the phone, that can be blocked so the phone can’t be registered.
I’m not sure, but I could see Apple handling things differently if you bought the phone directly from them versus from a reseller. If you bought the phone from apple.com with your Apple ID, they would know who you are and might know the phone’s IMEI. But if you bought it from Amazon, they wouldn’t really know that stuff. Even if you told them, they couldn’t easily verify it. You’re just some rando telling them that a phone got stolen. They’re not going to take your word that a phone’s IMEI should be blocked.
Apple’s bricking of an undelivered phone wouldn’t be about helping the original purchaser in any way; it would just about about a generalized deterrence for this kind of theft. If a perp who commits a crime is guaranteed to end up with nothing more than a paperweight for his risk, then the incentive is gone, and the incidence rate should decrease.
This is a unique situation that has arisen over the past few months:
Short version: someone at FedEx is passing tracking info for shipments from AT&T and Apple to third parties who then follow the delivery driver and intercept those shipments immediately after delivery. It’s not like run-of-the-mill porch pirates who steal whatever packages they come across. But if the bad guys know the phones will be bricked shortly after being stolen, then they know they won’t derive any value from their targeted crime. And if the phones are coming from AT&T/Apple, then those senders have an opportunity to note the IMEI prior to shipment. I’m just wondering if they are doing that these days.
Since the phone was stolen before my friend even saw it, this is not possible.
If the iPhone was purchased from a carrier, then they do have the IMEI on file based on my prior personal experience, and if you report it as stolen they can absolutely block the IMEI, bricking the phone.
As stated previously, it’s nothing but a minor deterrent, and likely the thief will just sell it on a “too good to be true” price on Ebay, Craigslist, or the like and pass the pain down to some sucker.
Speaking from lots of experience.
I know someone who purchased a counterfeit/fake iPhone last year. It was $500 in-person and he said the plastic wrapper, tamperproof seals, whatever else looked as expected. He and the seller opened it together and let it boot to the login(?) or whatever a brand new iPhone looks like. I saw the phone and packaging after the fact and, even under scrutiny, it looked fine to me, too. But it’s 100% fake and probably has international organized crime gang fingerprints all over it.
Edit: imagine overhearing the conversation at the Apple store, lol
I don’t have to imagine it, I lived it for the two years or so I was T-Mobile tech support!
To be honest though, it was only 1/3 that were stolen, stolen. Probably. Maybe.
The account holder calls up and says phone they got from Ebay/Craigslist/Some guy was working and then just stopped, and I start my investigation. Since phone wasn’t through us, it’s a red flag though. One quick IMEI search and it was “phone reported lost/stolen” (again, 1/3) or “IMEI blocked by carrier for non-payment.”
So, phone is stolen, lost, or prior owner claims it was “stolen/lost” or did loose it, claimed it against carrier, and then finds it days / weeks later. They then sell it, and it may well work for a while. Then the carrier, or the insurance on the phone finishes processing everything and lock it in due course.
After the explanation, they all get defensive, after all, why are they being “punished”? They didn’t steal anything after all. And my response is sympathetic, but clear in that they need to follow up with the selling party, my hands are tied.
Probably at least one of those a week. Often more.