
Ask HN: iPhone serial number highjacked for a fraudulent AppleCare replacement? - cududa
I went to visit Apple to have my iPhone X serviced. I use Apple&#x27;s iPhone Replacement Program, which is managed via Citizens Bank. After diagnosing the phone and finding the issue was within warranty, they began the replacement process only to find the phone had been marked replaced&#x2F; recycled.<p>After a bit of digging the employee brought over a manager that informed me someone must&#x27;ve stolen my serial number, icloud email address, and other carrier data. I can&#x27;t think when I would&#x27;ve entered this data into any form (or conceivably think of a scenario as to why I would..).<p>In May someone apparently brought a broken iPhone X into an Apple Store, and used the stolen data to replace it under the valid AppleCare plan. It was suggested my serial number&#x2F; other data was fished, but that seems incredibly unlikely as I can&#x27;t remember ever entering all that data.<p>Upon prodding the employees a bit they confirmed this means the Apple Store employee who handled the replacement would&#x27;ve manually had to enter the highjacked serial numbers to issue the replacement, and did not read them off the device brought in.<p>Has anyone experienced this? Any thoughts on how all those serial numbers were lifted? As conspiratorial as it sounds, my best guess is a weev&#x2F; ATT style breach at Verizon or Citizens Bank, coupled with complicit Apple Store employees.
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limeblack
If the device was brought and damaged enough there is no place to read the
numbers off of. They are not printed anywhere on the outside of the device
anymore. In fact they are printed on the SIM card tray I believe which is
rather easy to replace.

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KiDD
This isn't unheard of. Call AppleCare and request to speak to a senior advisor
and explain the situation. They should be able to see the inconsistencies in
the repair and sort it out for you.

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gt2
Do you remember what you did with your box?

Can’t recall if imei and serial number are one and the same but one is on the
box, and your icloud address is your email which is usually easy enough to
find.

