Excerpt

• Theory: someone discovered new phone purchase through credit card purchase.
• Day before leaving country, decided to set up phone.
• Phone would not allow completing new account process.
• Called Apple support—requested phone's serial number to complete process.
• Several Apple staff since said serial numbers not needed to open new account.

Full Narrative

In fall 2024, I have a theory that someone discovered I purchased a new phone through my credit card purchase. The day before I left the country I decided to set up the phone. My phone would not allow me to complete the new account process. I called Apple support where they requested the phone's serial number to complete the process. Several Apple staff I conferred with since then told me that serial numbers are not needed to open a new account. The purchase had been tracked, the setup sabotaged, and the support call was actually an impostor attempting to harvest my device information.