drinkypoo's Journal: Apple ID being used for harassment and ID theft

Apple is now actively, willingly, and deliberately aiding in online harassment and identity theft against me. They refuse to destroy an Apple ID which has been created with my email address, to which I do not have the answers to the "secret questions". They will not permit me to proceed any further without having an attorney.

What do I do now? Who do I call for relief? I can't afford a legal battle with Apple. I don't have an attorney on retainer.ï

What is it being used for after that?

[damn_registrars]

I've never had an Apple ID myself so I'm not entirely sure what they are good for. What is the person who has set this up able to do to you with it? I figured the Apple ID was mostly used for buying crap for iPhones, but it seems like there is more to it than that. Are they impersonating you in some relevant or important places?

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Are they impersonating you in some relevant or important places?

At minimum they can use it to get me more spam :P

I have no idea, but I don't want anyone to have anything associated with my email, with which they can impersonate me to other people. Granted, only stupid people, but there are a lot of them out there.

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

If you can't recover the email account, it's time to admit it's not yours any more and start a new one.

Re:

[Captain Splendid]

No, I have the same problem. I was out of country so it wanted me to jump through hoops (among them the secret questions I had forgotten), and now that account can't spend the remaining few dollars it has associated with it. Their recovery process really is a bit of a mess.

Thankfully for me it's no biggie since it's a throwaway gmail account and I'm not exactly a big app store shopper, but I can see how it could be annoying.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

If you can't recover the email account, it's time to admit it's not yours any more and start a new one.

Who said anything about being unable to recover an email account?

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[rthille]

So, someone created an apple account and you are getting email for it?

But, Apple, due to past high profile account take overs won't let you into an account just because you have access to the email address tied to that account.

So, despite you receiving the emails from the account you can't gain access to disable the account or turn off the emails.

Fun.

Perhaps Apple would be willing to contact "the account owner" via different mechanisms on the account, and if there are none be willing to destroy the account

You just need to prove your id

[plover]

It shouldn't be a battle. What you need is a notarized statement, proving your identity. A trip to an Apple Store might work, too.

A lost account

[el americano]

I had to recover my Apple ID recently. All I needed was the recovery address and my date of birth.

You're a little vague on the ID theft allegation, but the harassment can be stopped by blocking mail from that source. I don't think Apple has any obligation to help you with this. Allowing unverified people to disable accounts, would be a more serious problem than the occasional lost account.

One place where I can sympathize with you is the ridiculous password requirements that Apple has. They are definitely cr