Man says Apple was ‘incredibly unhelpful’ when he tried to regain access to his account after his iPhone was stolen and replaced with a fake


Trent only noticed the phone wasn’t his after he left the bar, when he asked staff at a pizza shop if he could charge it there.Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images

  • A thief stole a man’s iPhone in a Manhattan bar by replacing it with a fake.

  • He thought the battery had died, and only realized it wasn’t his phone when he tried to charge it.

  • He said Apple was “incredibly unhelpful” when he sought assistance to regain access to his account.

Trent was out with friends one night in Manhattan in February 2021 when he realized that an audacious thief had swapped out his iPhone with a fake.

Trent, who requested to only go by his first name but whose identity is known to Insider, went out with friends for dinner and drinks. At one point, the 28-year-old checked his phone on the table and assumed the battery had died because it wouldn’t turn on.

On his way home, he stopped for pizza and asked the shop’s staff if he could charge his device there. “That’s when I noticed it wasn’t my phone,” Trent told Insider.

“I originally thought the pizza spot swapped my phone out, but according to the police, they were pretty familiar with the spot,” Trent said, adding that the police told him the owners “wouldn’t do something like that.”

Trent filed a police report, seen by Insider, thinking it was a simple theft. “It was much worse. They had my passcode to get into my phone, which then gave them access to my password manager, and then access to all my credit cards and banking info,” he said.

Trent suspects the thief watched him until they could copy his passcode before replacing his iPhone with a fake so quickly that he didn't notice.

Trent suspects the thief watched him until they could copy his passcode before replacing his iPhone with a fake so quickly that he didn’t notice.Trent

Trent told Insider that he suspects the thief got into his iPhone by observing him until seeing him enter his passcode. He suspects the thief then somehow took his iPhone XS out of its case without Trent noticing and replaced it with a fake.

He suspected that when his phone, which he had placed on the table, wasn’t within eyesight, the thief grabbed and swapped it within seconds.

He wasn’t able to access his Apple account after realizing what had happened. “They changed my passwords — I couldn’t access anything anymore,” Trent said. “They opened a credit card in my name, bought an iPad,…

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