Stolen iPhone 15+ turned up on Find My in China this morning

Hello,

No, definitely not. If you do that the thieves will be able to activate it:

If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen

Good luck.

If you remove the phone from the list of devices associated with your Apple ID, that will clear Activation Lock. The criminals will then be able to reset your phone to "make your phone their own", and have a like-new iPhone 15 Plus to sell to their customers.

Since the phone has turned up in China, there is a very good chance that it is headed for an infamous reprocessing facility that will chop it up for parts. Apple recently extended Activation Lock to iPhone parts, which eventually may help to put a dent in that "business."

Some people have reported getting threats sent from this place – when the initial "phishing" messages fail to work, the criminals proceed to sending messages with pictures of guns. If you get such messages, avoid engaging with the sender.

Trace_D wrote:

Thank you, now receiving messages from Apple that Activation Lock is requesting my password on the stolen phone so I will ignore and not delete it from my list of devices - now just to wait for phishing and threatening messages base don what I have read on here :(

Beware of messages from "Apple" that contain links, ask you for credentials, or claim that Apple wants to reunite you with your phone. Apple does not get involved with lost/stolen phones (unless you accidentally leave yours at an Apple Store), so such messages will be "phishing" messages from the criminals.

Do's and Don'ts for lost iPhones - Switched Off - Offline - Beware of Phishing – Apple Community