respencer
I am experiencing the same thing as the executive whose phone was stolen. In my case, a scammer called me stating that he was from Goldman Sachs Apple Card. He said a large charge against my card had occurred. Sure enough, I looked and $11K had been charged. I assumed he was legit because Apple has told us all how secure their card is and unhackable. After an hour of talking to him (thought he was legit since he already had my info - don't know how since we are very careful) and with my wife talking to Goldman (who refused to verify whether the guy was theirs or not) he hung up. In the process, he changed my second-level verification phone number and locked my iPhone. It is now approaching month 2 of Apple's "Elite Investigator Team" refusing to release my iCloud account or unlock my phone. As did the executive, I have over 30 years of data on the phone. It is all backed up on 2 different drives and in iCloud, but Apple's backup system won't let another phone restore from it. I cannot update my Home Pods or Apple TVs (3 in all) since they are linked to the phone. My $850 brand new Ultra 2 Watch is a brick for the same reason. I had to buy another phone just to use my phone number and very minimal data exchange. Even stuff I use on my MacBook Pro cannot be shared even though I can use some of it on the MacBook because that data is tied to the phone. I am about to talk to a lawyer. I have been working with Apple's team, but now I think they are ghosting me. I am at a loss and the mental strain has been extreme. I have been using Apple stuff exclusively since 1985. I was one of their best evangelists. Never again will I tie so many things to one platform. I advise others not to now.
