How to remove Activation lock on my iPhone?

The only ways you can remove Activation Lock in the circumstances you describe are

• Using the Apple ID and Apple ID password credentials the phone is asking for, or
• If you are the original purchaser of the phone, and have proof of purchase that would be satisfactory to Apple (e.g., from Apple or an Authorized Apple Reseller, showing both your name and the phone's serial number), by filing an Activation Lock Support request.

There is no point doing filing a support request unless you have the required proof of purchase. Absent the proof, Apple will not help to remove Activation Lock. But if this is your phone, and it is locked to your Apple Account with your Apple ID, you should be able to remove the lock yourself. Right?

How to remove Activation Lock - Apple Support

If you had purchased this phone second-hand, or found it somewhere, and had now encountered Activation Lock, I might suggest that you read

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone – Apple Community

Hope I didn’t jump the gun.

It also occurs to me that you cannot post on this very forum without signing into an Apple Account. (Although in that case, Safari might let you authenticate using a different credential.)

Servant of Cats wrote:

Hope I didn’t jump the gun.

It also occurs to me that you cannot post on this very forum without signing into an Apple Account. (Although in that case, Safari might let you authenticate using a different credential.)

No, you didn't jump the gun. I'm glad you posted it. And note they haven't come back. I'd be willing to bet they bought a used iPhone and was hoping we'd have some magical way they could bypass Activation Lock, by not disclosing they bought a used phone. I could be wrong, but since they haven't come back, I'm likely not.

How can your forget your own email address? What aren't you telling us? Did you instead purchase a used iPhone, which is activation locked?

Thanks for posting my user tip! I thought about posting it, but was hopeful the Author would return and give is the real story on the phone.