[aelizia]

should i send photos of the box empty anyway or should i ask them "why they need this" in the first instance

Photos of the empty box Is fine - It's justified under the circumstances.

sent the photos and filed a police report like they asked, just waiting on a response back from apple now. my police report actually already had an outcome which was deemed negative due to "lack of evidence or any suspects"

not sure if that puts me in a good spot but im hoping Apple see that and just give up and refund me lol, thats obviously my hopeful thinking as ive never done this before, we will wait and see