[kreitje]

A few years back I bought a MBP online with the pickup option. I picked it up, declined their assistance setting it up and went about my day.

I get home later that day, start to set it up and it’s locked to employees of a bank in Canada. Live support is no help so I take it back, only to find out the serial number did not match that on the box. They had their security guard quietly come stand near me until they figured out what they wanted to do.

The sales guy told me since they can’t prove I stole it they were giving me a different one. I think they knew it was previously returned and realized they got scammed by someone else the first time around.

This time I made sure I could login before I left.

Within the return window the new 16” came out at the same price so I took it in and swapped it for the 16”. They just took it, handed me the new laptop, transferred Apple Care and sent me on my way. It made sense as they didn’t bother to verify the box/device serial number with me. They took my word and processed everything in a matter of minutes.

[wkat4242]

That corporate lock thing is called DEP, device enrollment program. It used to be easy to bypass (just don't connect to internet during setup) but then it would bug you constantly once you did. On T2/M1/M2 macs it's no longer bypassable similar to the apple account lock anti theft feature (which is a different thing)

Apple can remove it of course. It was probably a laptop stolen from the bank or their suppliers, then returned to Apple to whitewash it.

I'm not surprised this happens. What I am surprised about is that Apple apparently sells a returned item to another customer as new. Pretty sure that's not their policy and in most cases illegal. Perhaps they checked the seals (for activating DEP you don't need to open the box at all!) but still this shouldn't happen.

Normally these items go through a cleaning and reimaging process and then end up on the refurb store at a reduced price.

[newZWhoDis]

FWIW, scammers at Apple usually buy Apple Care/all the attachments.

They know the employee is judged on that and is incentivized to make the transaction glide through.

[seanthemon]

Lesson learned: next time, scam them

[matheusmoreira]

So Apple sells returned items back to people as though they were new? What a scam.

[NBJack]

Did they not scan both??? Many big box retail stores have to scan both the box and the barcode of the item through it (i.e. a Playstation) before the transaction can be completed. Yikes.