It's possible but not super easy to not associate a phone with it. You have to very careful not to opt in because once you do you can't opt out. As for wiping

It's possible but not super easy to not associate a phone with it. You have to very careful not to opt in because once you do you can't opt out. As for wiping the phone, that's a standard feature of both "Find My iPhone" and the android equivalent "Find My Phone" so presumably they used that to wipe them.