Have I bought a fake iphone?

Probably just a glitch with the date of sale from Apple. If it can be found by mysupport.apple.com and correctly identified then its a real device. Or at least a real serial number for an SE.

Try updating proof of purchase for it and see if it then correctly identifies the warranty. Link-> Update your proof of purchase - Apple Support

That's kind of a weird glitch, where many seem to have defaulted to a purchase date of January 1, 1985. It's probably not fake. That seems to be a weird default date when they might not properly register the date.

Date of Purchase: January 1, 1985. - Apple Community

My date of purchase in 1/1/1985 - Apple Community

If it was an independent non-Apple Authorized seller then it was NOT retail new since such stores have no access to Apple wholesale products. So it was either used/gray market. Since the warranty started on the date it was originally sold by Apple or an Apple Authorized Seller, the warranty may well be expired. The warranty starts from the legitimate date of first new retail sale whether the box is opened and the device used or not.

Michael Black wrote:

If it was an independent non-Apple Authorized seller then it was NOT retail new since such stores have no access to Apple wholesale products. So it was either used/gray market. Since the warranty started on the date it was originally sold by Apple or an Apple Authorized Seller, the warranty may well be expired. The warranty starts from the legitimate date of first new retail sale whether the box is opened and the device used or not.

I've seen some really bizarre setups, and I'm not quite sure if Apple has cracked down on it or they don't really care. I bought a Mac once from an independent Apple specialist. But when I made the purchase, the receipt was for an Apple Authorized Reseller about 20 miles away. They said they didn't specifically have a resale agreement with Apple, but they worked with an authorized reseller to act as their "agent" such that everything they sold had a full warranty.

It may have been stolen in transit for delivery. someone ordered it online and it was stolen either from the truck or from their porch etc...

But the warranty date then does not match up. The check coverage.apple.com website should have reported the status as stolen in that case, not provide a weird expiry date.

Something is off.

In the USA at least, it would be illegal for one independent company to issue a sales receipt claiming to be from another independent company. That would be fraud.

And I am pretty sure that the Apple Authorization program does not allow any authorized seller to partner with another, non-authorized seller to distribute Apple products. That would defeat the very point of an Apple authorized network of sellers and service providers.

Either way, I know I would have walked away from that deal and never done business ever again with that so-claimed Apple specialist dealer.

Sounds like an interesting anecdote that proves nothing. How many of these bizarre setups have you seen and did you report the seller in your story? How long ago was this?