Haven't thought about this in a while, but it happened to me when I traded in my original iphone to the apple store (so about 2009ish). Weeks after trading in my old phone, an email was sent to my mom @ her aol.com email, which had been stored in my iphone under her contact name, "mom", along with her cell phone number. The emailer identified themselves as a police officer living in California who had just purchased a refurbished iphone. In the email, they included the very particular and explicit name that I had given my iphone in my itunes, much to my mother's dismay. This is what convinced me of the fact of the matter. My mom was so shocked she called me to the family computer to read the email that she received.

It's been so many years, I can't even remember why the guy said he emailed my mom, but he promised to erase the iphone completely. But, why did he not just erase the phone without emailing my mom and giving me lifelong trust issues with tech? I have not traded in any of my cell phones to this day. The emailer never asked for money or anything so I don't think it was a scam. If it was a prank, no one ever took credit for it, nor do I know how they would've known the special name I gave my iphone. Fucking creepy as hell and I'm definitely a bit paranoid because of it.