IPhone locked to a stranger's icloud account- please help I am not a thief

Question

I had bought iPhone 5 from AT&T the day it was released. After using it for a year and half, I decided to gift it to my dad. I completely wiped the phone to it's factory settings and shipped it to my dad. After my dad received the phone, he took it to a local store to get a new screen protector and a case. After he returned back home, he tried to use the phone but surprisingly the phone was in a lost mode with a message showing it is currently linked to an Apple ID d…[email protected]. Initially he thought the apple id that was showing on the phone belonged to me and asked me to remove it from the device. However, the problem was the apple id didn’t belong to me. I tried to contact the the email address and the phone number that was showing on the screen but they turned out to be bogus. My dad went back to the store but the owner of the store denied doing anything like that. I did some research on Google and came across this discussion where a person is also having the exact same “locked to a stranger’s apple id” issue. At this point, I am not sure if it was the store owner who locked my device or it is a bug in the iCloud system of which Apple is not aware of? I called Apple Support but the rep was kind of rude and just dismissed the case. Then I went to the Apple store with the proof of purchase and the original box but was turned back to Apple Support. The second rep whom I spoke with was professional and sounded helpful but it has been a week and haven't heard back from him yet.
I guess Apple is finding difficulty trying to decide who the true owner of the phone is? Me who have the proof of purchase or the stranger who has provided bogus email address and phone number? Looks like Apple is not willing to help me at all. Is filing a case at small claim court the only option left for me?

Answer 1

I respect your opinion but I don’t agree with it. In the real world, you don't have to involve the police if you simply loose your keys or if it gets stolen. There is nothing a police can do because the car is never stolen and is just sitting at the mall's parking lot all the time. Remember, only the keys were stolen. In my phone's case, the phone was never stolen however I do agree that it was in a vulnerable position when I did the factory reset and removed my icloud account from it. If a device is in such a position then anybody who has the physical access to the device can lock the device with their icloud account. And this is exactly what happend to my phone and this is exactly what I have been trying to explain to Apple Support. I understand they cannot just trust me and unlock the phone for me, but I expect them to tell me what's the next step for me to take. What document or proof do they need from me to show that I am the true owner? I can try and get the police involved even though the device is never stolen, but I first need to know which city police should I get involved- is it the Dallas Police, my home town police or the stranger’s home town police? The email address and the phone number shown on the locked screen are totally bogus and they don’t exist at all. I don’t even know where this stranger lives. Apple Support is simply ignoring me presuming that I am the thief and not trying to resolve the issue at all.