It is less common these days thanks to activation lock, Find My Phone, etc. but it still happens a fair bit for parts. The system board is useless thanks to act

It is less common these days thanks to activation lock, Find My Phone, etc. but it still happens a fair bit for parts. The system board is useless thanks to activation lock but the battery, screen, cameras, housing, etc. are all useful to any repair business. I think the only part they can't replace is the FaceID module as Apple require specific software to configure it only available to certified repair techs so a small repair store won't have access to it but a genuine battery or screen or camera on the cheap from a stolen phone is good money to smaller repair shops.