Apple only sees the credit card if you buy from them, if you buy from a retailer they don’t get that info.

To be clear, this is their problem, not the customers.

Still, I’m curious what the scammer did in this case. If a retail worker just stole the card number it would merely be used up, not flagged as fraud. Maybe someone in the supply chain obtained the number and reported it lost/stolen? And used that to obtain a new card no one would complain about once it was used? Vs the original number which would result in a customer complaint. Idk.