"New" 16" MacBook Pro wasn't new
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a new MacBook Pro 16" from BestBuy, went home, opened the boxes, and began to set it up.
My setup was minimal with nothing at all brought over from other devices. I don't use i Cloud on my other devices. I did enter an email address which caused many emails to come in (from the server).
Then when I opened Photos, I almost fell off the chair. There were hundred of photos of all kinds--scenes, abstracts, people, even a photo of a receipt from a purchase..
Some photos had printed locations attached, and these locations were places in my general metropolitan area.
I like investigative challenges, but I was so shocked as well as annoyed by this discovery, that I shut Photos and didn't look back.
Also, at startup there was a large pool ball with the number 8 on the screen.
The next day I went back to BestBuy to return the computer and order another one.
The BestBuy people actually challenged me and barely believed that I found the photos on the "new" computer. Although it was returned, they insisted it was new because "the Apple box was in a cardboard BestBuy box that is used only used for new computers." And also because all open box or refurbished ones are always wiped clean.
Maybe so, but it was very clearly not new, as in never used before.
I did searches for the serial number and couldn't find anything for it except the generic type.
My questions here are: How would this happen? Is it Apple's fault or BestBuy's fault? It was in an apparently sealed Apple box.
Also, would any of the ID's and passwords that I put into the computer when trying it out be in jeopardy? BestBuy claimed that my info would be wiped out. But what about while I actually had it on?
Your wisdom would be appreciated!
I did just get a replacement computer, and I had a systems error occur on it while setting it up. (This was only a few hours ago.)
I'm going to ask about this in another post.
Aug.21, 2020 at 9:45 PDT
Comments
Any chance anyone in perhaps your family is using your iCloud account? Maybe you back in the day used it like that to share paid apps, or to pay for someone else's whatever; or maybe you sold a device without properly wiping all data, so someone else ended up using your iCloud account (without either of you realising it)?