Got a MacBook that's locked with activation lock. Should I 1) Turn it to the police or 2) Turn it to Apple? The poor schmuck should get his computer back, but the dummy didn't put any contact info in the message that appears so I can't go directly to them to give it. Also I did google the serial to see if someone posted about it being stolen, but nothing came up sadly.

Side note: I do have a phone number and even snapped a photo of the person who sold it to me. (The battery was dead when I got it). I don't care about the amount I spent, but I'd be lost if my computer was stolen so I just want them to get it back.

Which has the highest likelihood of the person getting their MacBook back?

Update. Took it to Apple. They refused to take it saying they have no way of contacting the original purchaser... didn't even touch the laptop.... just looked st the serial (probably to check if it was stolen from one of their stores rather than a regular person) so that was a dead end.

I'll try the police on Sunday.

First mistake



Buying apple

Very helpful.

police will hold it for x days then release it to you if no one claims it but its useless to you locked.
Personally I'd scrap it for parts and sell online.

im not familiar with macs, but can you change the hard drive? would that get rid of the lock? or is it a bios thing?

This post was edited by Warlock316 on Mar 26 2017 03:43pm

It's more of a bios thing -- also gave the MacBook to the popo. Well went in, put it down and left 😂😂 I ain't gonna put my info down for nobody. I'm gonna assume the police can do the rest from there.

they will just auction it off after the time frame.
and its a firmware lock on a chip on the mobo that only apple can flash.

That's pretty dumb imo

More than half the time someone posts about a stolen macbook and phrase it the way you do, it's just simply a roundabout way of saying "can I ever be caught with this?" or "is there a way to unlock this?"

Unfortunately, no one spends money on a used macbook or look for a discounted one because they have plenty of money to go around. You're not going around out of the goodness of your heart to get this macbook back to the owner and be out the money.

Unless it's just an old junk macbook that's hardly worth anything, then whatever.

EFI lock can be removed or bypassed, probably not by you but it can be done. Diffculty depends on the model, some being rather simple.

If you really just want to find the owner, you can just take the hdd/ssd out and look for documents/resumes.

This post was edited by KoOa on Mar 29 2017 01:25pm