Originally Posted by
Mike6567
The man at the apple shop assured me these motorbike thieves end up with an unusable iphone if uou use the "find my iphone" facility and then lock or erase.
Your statement seems to be entirely correct.
I just bumped into this.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht201365
"Find My iPhone includes Activation Lock—a feature that's designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch if it's ever lost or stolen. Activation Lock is enabled automatically when you turn on Find My iPhone.
...
From that point on, your Apple ID password or device passcode is required before anyone can
turn off Find My iPhone, erase your device, or reactivate and use your device."