My phone was stolen 8 years ago and just showed up on my account.

Submitted by imcaptainsunshine t3_11aup9v in iphone

Hi all! I was robbed 8 years ago and my iPhone 6s was stolen. I reported it to apple, Verizon, and the police. I removed it from my account and marked it stolen in “find my friends” and on my apple account. Today, I was looking for something else and saw this phone is on my account again. And it said that phone can get verification codes for my account. I looked on “find my friends” and I can see it, but I can’t access the location and it’s no longer showing as stolen. I removed it from my account again and changed my password. Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do to resolve this? I feel this is relevant for many of us because this is not a regular occurrence and one would think once it’s marked stolen, it would stay that way. TIA

Edited with updates I reached out to Apple and unfortunately, I still don't have an answer the mystery of how this phone reappeared. What I do know is I reported my phone stolen to the police, apple, and Verizon almost 8 years ago to the day, when I was robbed. I remember apple marking the phone as stolen and I went to the Verizon store to tie things up on that end. The person I spoke with today said the phone showed up again because I didn't "mark it stolen" in the correct way. The issue there is, they did that, not me. She seemed confident my data and info isn't at risk because I have the 2 step authentication turned on. I'm still a little wary though so I changed the password. She had me mark the phone as stolen again and erase the phone data again. I monitor my credit anyway and will just keep doing that. So it's kind of still a mystery. I asked if an update would have made this happen and she said no. It's strange and I'm not happy about it. But they seem confident nobody got into my account.

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corecenite t1_j9u6h15 wrote

Not an expert here but beware, your Apple ID/account might have been hacked.

(subbing to this post so that I can get more insight as well on this)

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9u6r4m wrote

Thank you for the warning. I’m talking to apple now. It’s so weird this happened 8 years later almost to the date of when I was robbed.

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kelvach t1_j9uj9jy wrote

How do you sub to a post?

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gettingrip22 t1_j9uoque wrote

If you’re on mobile press the three dots on the top right corner.

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marshull t1_j9ug68m wrote

I wonder if this is because of a new update. Something in the update might have added it back even though you removed it.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9uzy97 wrote

I asked them about this and they said no. But it seems like the only thing that makes sense. Unless someone just bought a used Iphone 6s and just tried to turn it on? I'm not sure. I posted a more detailed update above.

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AstronautMindless873 t1_j9urz8v wrote

Was your phone locked? Or could the thief access all your data?

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9v0cim wrote

It was locked but when I looked at it from the list of phones on my AppleID, it said that phone can get Apple ID verification codes. When it was stolen, I had apple help me remove it from my account. So I don't know what happened.

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AstronautMindless873 t1_j9v0wfh wrote

Well I hope for your sake the Apple employee had any clue what he was doing and blocked+wiped the device. If it wasn’t wiped and the thief got somehow access to it, your data may be compromised so just to be sure change your password and make sure you have 2 step verification.

Other then this there’s not much you can do and what’s done is done, delete it from your account again and forget about it.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9v2d7s wrote

Thank you. Yeah, I did all I can both times. Whatever happens, happens and I’ll handle it. I actually forgot about it til today. Hahaha. So I will forget again.

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ktappe t1_j9wp20b wrote

>I didn't "mark it stolen" in the correct way

That was someone who doesn't know what they're talking about making shit up. You did everything right.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9wq45c wrote

Thank you. I wonder if I should call again and ask for an expert of some sort. It felt like I knew more than she did on some points.

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JoshTylerClarke t1_j9wduu9 wrote

Apple was having issues with their services yesterday/today. I really hope not, but maybe a glitch made it reappear.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9wnhcx wrote

That’s makes more sense than anything they told me today. t least if that’s the case, I took care of it very quickly. Thank you for letting me know.

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Kilobytez95 t1_j9w0g0e wrote

My guess is that it's been powered off and maybe somehow never got the locked signal from Apple. To my knowledge once you report your iPhone as stolen it's locked forever even if you get it back you can't unlock it.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9wn8eh wrote

I thought that too. That’s why I was so surprised to see it in my list. I really hope this doesn’t come back to bite me. I followed everything they said to do, both times. Hopefully it’s just a weird fluke.

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Kilobytez95 t1_j9wok4a wrote

I'd call Apple and ask them to disable the phone if possible.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9wpt3j wrote

I called and we erased it again and they said nobody will ever be able to use it again. But that’s what they said 8 years ago. I kept asking to make sure over and over and she swore it was all erased. So hopefully she is right.

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Kilobytez95 t1_j9wpxz2 wrote

It's possible that the phone isn't actually in use then. Likely it's some error on Apple's end causing it to show up.

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DarthMauly t1_j9y0w1y wrote

To be fair you don’t seem to really have a great grasp of the process of what you actually did years ago.

“Removed from my account and marked as stolen in Find My friends…”

All of that is wrong, basically.

If you removed it from your account, you wouldn’t be able to mark it stolen as it would no longer be on your account.

If you marked it stolen, you wouldn’t be able to remove it from your account.

None of this is done through the find my friends app.

The reason Apple support can’t tell you how this phone re-appeared from your account after 8 years is that it was likely on there all along. Otherwise all the rest of what you described would not be possible.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9yanb4 wrote

To clarify, Apple took care of it 8 years ago. I went to them when it happened. It wasn’t just in find my friends. That was just something i noticed and tried to see if i could still see it. The phone was in the Apple ID where it shows your devices and then it shows the devices have access to your account. It hadn’t been there in 8 years and then randomly reappeared. So that was why I was concerned. But yeah, I didn’t do it all that time ago. Apple and the phone company were providing guidance and service and did it. But in 8 years, that phone hasn’t showed up as one of my devices. So it was really weird. It should be removed permanently but I’ll keep an eye.

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DarthMauly t1_j9yb5m8 wrote

You see, no. It can not be both.

If you remove the device from your account, it’s gone from everywhere. You lose all visibility and control over the device. So you wouldn’t be able to place it in Lost Mode or command a remote erase.

For Lost Mode and for a remote erase, the device must stay connected to your account. If you contacted Apple they’d have told you to place it in Lost Mode, not remove it from your account.

To be 100% clear - You can’t mark it lost/ remotely erase it, AND remove it from your account. If you marked it lost and commanded an erase, it was always on your account and has been for all these years.

And it’s absolutely fine for it to still show on your account. This does not mean someone with the phone can access your account or details in any way. It just means you still have control over it.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9yboht wrote

I see what you’re saying. So I probably marked it lost and then I guess that’s why it showed back up. Someone turned it on maybe? I wonder why they couldn’t explain that to me. Thank you so much for the clarification. That makes sense then of why it showed up under my account.

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DarthMauly t1_j9ycn5h wrote

Exactly yes. If I had to guess what happened, you marked it lost 8 years ago when it was stolen. You then presumably replaced it with a new phone?

At that point, the new phone becomes your primary device used to show you and your location in apps such as Find my Friends. The older device was always there, it just loses visibility from those kinds of apps. Had you gone looking, it likely would have been there somewhere.

As to why it showed up now, could be anything from someone powering it on to a part from it being used in a repair etc. Can’t really answer that part. But once you don’t turn off Lost Mode you will be 100%.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9ycxux wrote

Thank you again for explaining it. I feel a lot better having more of an understanding of what happened. I knew it wasn’t magic. Hahaha.

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DarthMauly t1_j9ydc15 wrote

Yeah definitely not magic anyway haha, no idea how support couldn’t explain that clearly… The only way it would be a security risk is if you turn off lost mode anyway and the thief knew your passcode. After 8 years I’d say you’re safe

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fyoudingho t1_j9xm671 wrote

I wouldn’t even bother trying to recover it.

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paulstelian97 t1_j9y21um wrote

Removing the phone from your account just means the phone can be reused. If it wasn't reset it can rejoin the account quite easily, possibly even without an Apple ID password prompt.

You're supposed to lock and permanently keep the phone in the account, eventually combined with a remote erase.

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imcaptainsunshine OP t1_j9yb5zp wrote

It was so long ago. I can say for sure that I had two professionals advise me and go through the account. One at apple and one at Verizon. I did everything they said to do. I remember doing my own research back then to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Can’t recall the exact phrasing but I did all the things they said to do.

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