Apparently, an Apple Authorized reseller in Australia has been having a few problems with Applecare fraud! When customers purchase the sealed Applecare box and then return home to register their serial number, they find that the numbers are invalid and have already been used. Once the issue was brought to the attention of Apple and the authorized resellers everything was worked out, so thankfully no legitimate customers lost money on the purchase of the Applecare, but this could become an issue if it is not just an few isolated incidents. It could be a problem of a simple misprint in numbers or perhaps an issue of hackers breaking the Applecare codes. Of course, I am only speculating but I just wanted to put out a buyer beware on Applecare. Remember, you can purchase your Applecare directly from Apple online after you have made an in-store purchase, and that might be the best way to be 100% safe!
{Source via here}