The phones will be sold to a chop shop, which will take them apart and sell the parts, just as cars have long been to avoid getting caught. In the 3 months sin

The phones will be sold to a chop shop, which will take them apart and sell the parts, just as cars have long been to avoid getting caught. In the 3 months since my phone was stolen, it never once connected to the Internet, preventing Find My iPhone from registering its existence ("Sound and Lost Mode Pending" until phone connects to Internet). That's how I know it was stolen by a pro network, working the busy Manhattan photocopy stores, swiping phones off counters when people like me are pre-occupied. The clerks at the store confirmed that this was a known (by them and the NYPD) and growing activity.