What does Apple do with stolen devices?
January 27, 2020 5:40 AM Subscribe
I ordered a new iPad Pro — think $900 - to my work address, on a corporate (education) account. It was stolen during the last phase of delivery. Apple sent me a new one. What can or will they do — if anything — to the stolen one? Details below the fold.
Somewhere between an initial misdelivery (to the wrong office on campus) and being bounced for 3 days around my campus mail system, someone very carefully sliced the package open, removed the device, and resealed it to look untampered with. As it was a holiday break, the now empty box then sat in my department office (absolutely trusted, no risk it was taken from there) in a locked closet for two weeks. So I discovered the theft very late — almost three weeks after it was signed for.
Luckily both my institution is a big-time Apple customers with big budgets. Or maybe they do this for anyone. But after my office reported the theft to Apple, Apple escalated to an “investigation” unit and meanwhile sent me a brand new iPad, at no extra cost, by expedited shipping. Yay Apple, that’s premium service.
But now I’m curious.....
Surely Apple can track this device if it is registered for the first time on a network or an Apple ID (I even have the serial and MEI numbers myself for it). Would they bother? Could they brick it remotely? Or Tess life the thief? Would they? Do they?
Sadly the thief was almost certainly an employee — likely a working-class one given the chain of possession — of my university, working in the department where the package was initially wrongly shipped or in the campus mail system. The thief was no random opportunist; they took time and care to do in a manner that would not be detected for days or weeks. They didn’t jut swipe the whole package. That suggests someone who has practice stealing stuff. While I’d likeq to see that person stopped from future thefts, I don’t really want to be party to any of this and I doubt I’ll ever hear another thing from Apple or the campus police. They replaced the device so the theft is from them, not me. I’m whole. Maybe the thief needs to pay for cancer treatment for a kid. Maybe they should lose their job. Maybe there’s a whole organized theft ring in my campus mailroom. Whatever. I harbor no resentment, only concern that they’ll do this again. (It has happened before to colleagues on campus, minus the razor knife and reseal technique, usually the box just disappears somewhere. Apple seemed really happy I had preserved the tampered box to look at.)
But I’d be delighted to know Apple just f’ing bricked the stolen iPad. That would be revenge enough in the big picture.
Does anyone know what SOP is for Apple’s “Investigations” unit if they can fine a stolen iPad online?
Somewhere between an initial misdelivery (to the wrong office on campus) and being bounced for 3 days around my campus mail system, someone very carefully sliced the package open, removed the device, and resealed it to look untampered with. As it was a holiday break, the now empty box then sat in my department office (absolutely trusted, no risk it was taken from there) in a locked closet for two weeks. So I discovered the theft very late — almost three weeks after it was signed for.
Luckily both my institution is a big-time Apple customers with big budgets. Or maybe they do this for anyone. But after my office reported the theft to Apple, Apple escalated to an “investigation” unit and meanwhile sent me a brand new iPad, at no extra cost, by expedited shipping. Yay Apple, that’s premium service.
But now I’m curious.....
Surely Apple can track this device if it is registered for the first time on a network or an Apple ID (I even have the serial and MEI numbers myself for it). Would they bother? Could they brick it remotely? Or Tess life the thief? Would they? Do they?
Sadly the thief was almost certainly an employee — likely a working-class one given the chain of possession — of my university, working in the department where the package was initially wrongly shipped or in the campus mail system. The thief was no random opportunist; they took time and care to do in a manner that would not be detected for days or weeks. They didn’t jut swipe the whole package. That suggests someone who has practice stealing stuff. While I’d likeq to see that person stopped from future thefts, I don’t really want to be party to any of this and I doubt I’ll ever hear another thing from Apple or the campus police. They replaced the device so the theft is from them, not me. I’m whole. Maybe the thief needs to pay for cancer treatment for a kid. Maybe they should lose their job. Maybe there’s a whole organized theft ring in my campus mailroom. Whatever. I harbor no resentment, only concern that they’ll do this again. (It has happened before to colleagues on campus, minus the razor knife and reseal technique, usually the box just disappears somewhere. Apple seemed really happy I had preserved the tampered box to look at.)
But I’d be delighted to know Apple just f’ing bricked the stolen iPad. That would be revenge enough in the big picture.
Does anyone know what SOP is for Apple’s “Investigations” unit if they can fine a stolen iPad online?
It's from back in 2012, but here's a story indicating that yes, Apple can certainly track a stolen iPad.
posted by beagle at 8:13 AM on January 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by beagle at 8:13 AM on January 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
You can assume that the thief knows this as well and will have the iPad sold for cash before it is activated, leaving some unwitting buyer with a brick.
I have to wonder if Apple doesn't brick stolen devices for this reason because now they can't tell if the new owner is the thief or some schmuck that got a good deal on a device and it's not their fault. And then you're clogging the customer service lines with sob stores and fake sob stories and... well you get the idea.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:47 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have to wonder if Apple doesn't brick stolen devices for this reason because now they can't tell if the new owner is the thief or some schmuck that got a good deal on a device and it's not their fault. And then you're clogging the customer service lines with sob stores and fake sob stories and... well you get the idea.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:47 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Keep in mind that the cost of the hardware is way less than what you pay. A lot of Apple's share of the purchase price is design and programming. So there is a limit to how much effort they can put into dealing with one stolen laptop before it's no longer worthwhile.
posted by SemiSalt at 11:48 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 11:48 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Yeah, because this was purchased in an institutional account, there is probably some ratio or pattern of loss before Apple does more than just log it. The link about Apple tracking stolen iPads was literally talking about Steve Jobs’ personal iPads, which is really not germane to any real-world scenario.
posted by rockindata at 12:46 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rockindata at 12:46 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
As I understand it, findmyiphone works after one has associated an appleid with a device (and turned on the setting for it to work).
Moreover, I can imagine that apple doesn't want to have this capability. Loosing a few products along the way is a less sticky situation than dealing with law enforcement/ government requests.
posted by oceano at 1:50 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Moreover, I can imagine that apple doesn't want to have this capability. Loosing a few products along the way is a less sticky situation than dealing with law enforcement/ government requests.
posted by oceano at 1:50 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
If your institution uses Apple School Manager (ASM, formerly DEP) and this device was ordered through the institution's process to register it in advance, then the device may have been set up in a way that your own institution's staff could set the status to 'lost' and brick it if it's ever brought online. Your IT or Purchasing department may be able to tell you more.
I do not know if Apple maintains their own similar controls for hardware not registered to a customer's device management system, but I believe that might be unlikely.
posted by BlackPebble at 4:52 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
I do not know if Apple maintains their own similar controls for hardware not registered to a customer's device management system, but I believe that might be unlikely.
posted by BlackPebble at 4:52 PM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Nope, no ASM. This is a large R1 university. We probably get dozens of packages from Apple across the campus every day. As far as I know I’ve never received a device preconfigured and they all just require a standard setup.
I too doubt Apple cares about one lost iPad Pro. But the skill with which this was done makes me wonder about whether there’s a bigger problem and I just caught the edge of it. Normally Apple items are delivered directly to my own department office, where I pick them up the next day. This one was misdelivered at first to another department, then sent by campus mail services back to my department. The chain of possession is pretty knowable and the means of theft suggests something other than a one-time opportunity grabbing something out of an unattended cart, say. Whoever did this took several minutes to make the theft undetectable for at least a few hours and, as it turned out, almost three weeks. Yes, plenty of time to sell it to some sucker.
My campus authorities probably ought to have the bigger concern here. Whoever did this likely works here and handles other packages. And they appear to have a system — someone has to have a sharp knife and sealing tape at hand to do this. Lots of high dollar and/or restricted things get delivered to research universities.
Anyway more dark curiosity than anything for me. Really appreciate all the answers.
posted by spitbull at 5:46 PM on January 27, 2020
I too doubt Apple cares about one lost iPad Pro. But the skill with which this was done makes me wonder about whether there’s a bigger problem and I just caught the edge of it. Normally Apple items are delivered directly to my own department office, where I pick them up the next day. This one was misdelivered at first to another department, then sent by campus mail services back to my department. The chain of possession is pretty knowable and the means of theft suggests something other than a one-time opportunity grabbing something out of an unattended cart, say. Whoever did this took several minutes to make the theft undetectable for at least a few hours and, as it turned out, almost three weeks. Yes, plenty of time to sell it to some sucker.
My campus authorities probably ought to have the bigger concern here. Whoever did this likely works here and handles other packages. And they appear to have a system — someone has to have a sharp knife and sealing tape at hand to do this. Lots of high dollar and/or restricted things get delivered to research universities.
Anyway more dark curiosity than anything for me. Really appreciate all the answers.
posted by spitbull at 5:46 PM on January 27, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
And last sentence: “fine” —-> “find” the stolen iPad.
posted by spitbull at 5:42 AM on January 27, 2020 [1 favorite]