Well actually, the first buyer pretty much knows it's stolen. Subsequent buyers, not so much.
"If the deal is too good to be true, it's probably stolen."
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Apple Stores Will Now Decline to Repair iPhones Reported as Missing
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"If the deal is too good to be true, it's probably stolen."
As long as the owner can remove it from that list when they find it. 
No, they don't. There are many situations in which phones are reported stolen or lost, but they actually aren't. crApple isn't law enforcement or a judge and jury.
I don't know anything about how to report a phone as stolen/lost but what's preventing (if anything) someone from reporting a someone else's phone as stolen, for example, if they don't like that person or whatever?
And I haven't bothered to check but I wonder if in order to report a phone as stolen, you need lots of ID numbers, etc... jotted down somewhere or just a phone number? I'm guessing its reported stolen to GSMA by a provider after a customer reports it stolen to their provider?
And I haven't bothered to check but I wonder if in order to report a phone as stolen, you need lots of ID numbers, etc... jotted down somewhere or just a phone number? I'm guessing its reported stolen to GSMA by a provider after a customer reports it stolen to their provider?
If a phone was stolen in country A, but presented at an Apple shop in country B, anything like that raises issues.
The person with the phone, who might not know it was ever stolen, has quite possibly done nothing against the law in country B. By what law should Apple operate?
However, it is not impossible that some clause buried in Apple's T&C could give them some grounds for action. Even then, it could require a court order.
There is also the issue of the GSMA registry - is it entirely without any mistakes, bad data, etc.?
I can see it now: angry spouse or GF/BF reports phone of significant other as missing, then breaks it.
Removing existing iPhones from circulation means selling more new iPhones. It's as simple as that.
Having spent 9 years at the Genius Bar, I would not have wanted to be the one to have that conversation. Customers can become quite elevated if things don't go their way, and I would not like to be put in that position.
I'm surprised that this wasn't already the way things worked.
I believe you can still disable AL via iCloud on web or a separate device in the case of broken devices. It's been a few years since I repaired iOS devices, but we had to have FMI/AL disabled in order to even create a repair within GSX.
Which "missing phone" feature?
Find My, which is Apple's feature, prevents repair - if Find My is on and the person possessing the phone can't turn it off, Apple will not repair it. That has been Apple's protocol, from the start.
This extends that protocol to the (probably) small number of units that were not protected by Find My.
The GSMA Device Registry is operated (mostly) by the mobile phone carriers, and "anti-fraud" (people who have stopped paying their monthly installments and are trying to setup service with another provider) is likely a much larger category than "anti-theft" (customers who report a lost/stolen phone).
The way companies use GSMA is, "Sorry, we can't setup cellular service on this phone," or "Sorry, we can't repair this phone." Reporting the discovery of a lost/stolen phone to law enforcement is a whole other level of cost, staff involvement, and risk for a business, and I'm not aware of any phone-related company that will do that.
Is a business legally empowered to say, "This item has been reported lost/stolen so we're not giving it back to you and we've called the police?" Not only does that engage a substantial amount of staff time but at times may risk the safety of staff and patrons, along with the occasional lawsuit.
No, if the broken phone has Find My turned on, Apple will not replace it. Find My is tied to the serial number of the item, so even if the broken unit is totally non-functional, its status is known.
No. Almost every plan that covers theft and loss includes an actual insurance policy for the theft and loss portion. For example from Apple’s AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss Terms and Conditions:
Wrong again. Their contract almost certainly includes provisions like these from the AIG coverage included as part of AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss:
Wrong twice more: The coverage is usually issued by an insurance company, and one’s home owner or renter’s insurance policies routinely cover theft of one’s property from other places. For most people it would not be worth filing a home owner’s or renter’s insurance claim as the deductible probably exceeds the value of the device.
It does not matter if they know or do not know that the property was stolen. The person who sold it to them did not have title, and so could not transfer title. Even if they were they bought it from someone, who bought it from someone, who bought it from someone who bought it from the thief, not one person in that chain ever obtained legal title and so never owned it.
That is a different crime, most likely fraud. If it was reported to an insurance carrier and replaced by them, it is their property, if not, that becomes a case for the courts to adjudicate.
First almost correct thing you said (it would be correct were it not for your spelling mistake). Apple should call law enforcement and let them handle it. They have received property they believe to be stolen, that is the proper procedure.
Buying stolen goods is never legitimate. Who raised you?
They can simply turn it over to the police. If it has been reported stolen, it is law enforcement’s problem to handle it.
While it may be nasty, if one has legal title to a device that one let one’s significant other use, at the point of the break up, unless there is a legal settlement otherwise, one retains that title. That means it is stolen if the other party refuses to return it. If the issue is contested, then it is for the courts to decide.
It does not matter in what country the phone was stolen, the person who sold it to the current owner never owned it, so had now right to do so. While that might mean the the person who acquired it could not be prosecuted for buying stolen goods, it would mean that the person possessing the device does not own it. Apple can turn it over to the local law enforcement and let them handle it.
The local law where the store is located, for the most part.
You have a cite for the claim that the only legal owner is the person in possession?
Since the "find my" feature communicates with other devices anyway, a device tagged as lost should see if other devices in close proximity are also tagged as lost. If a fixed number (10?) of lost devices are in one location it should send the location to the police so they can bust the thieves.
This idea probably has a lot of problems of course. I'm just playing.
This idea probably has a lot of problems of course. I'm just playing.
They aren’t law enforcement but that doesn’t mean they can’t notify law enforcement.
IMO Apple (and most major corporations) hold off on these sort of implementations in order to apply them at a later date when sales need a boost. Because otherwise, yes - everyone would agree this is literally a no-brainer. Netflix is doing the same with cracking down on people sharing log-ins after reports showing user growth has stagnated.
It is not a dumb policy. It is to prevent stolen phones from being repaired and used again. Even if a user is unaware their in possession of a stolen cellphone does not make the cellphone magically not stolen. By the way you can not legitimately buy and posses stolen property that is a crime you can be arrested for. The ownership of that phone belongs to the person who reported it stolen or to the insurance company if they paid out on a replacement phone claim.
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I hope Apple has a way to prove that you are the original owner of the iPhone in the event that your iPhone’s imei number has been registered in that database in error, like showing a receipt from the store the phone was originally bought from.