Article, that tells a story that man got locked out of his Apple account by trying to redeem gift card, Apple account apparently has his entire life ... and then conclusion is you need to buy gift cards at a verified location and then appeal if you locked out. However no one talks about digital sovereignty and the fact maybe you don't need to store your data on "somebody else's computer" because that's what cloud is. https://tidbits.com/2025/12/18/compromised-apple-gift-card-saga-ends-well-but-risks-remain/