Phone stolen in Paris.

warren_1979 · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:07

Hi.

I’ve just had my phone stolen in Paris and i am locked out of all my account because of google authenticator. My phone was finger print and password locked.

Will they just want the phone for the hardware and wipe it or can they access my info on the phone? I have coinbase and revolut setup on the phone plus Amazon and all my emails etc. I am just worrying they could get access to that.

I have tried using google to wipe my phone but my number is not available and my other email address is locked to GA as well so I cannot access that.

Edit - I have managed to get google to looking at cancelling my account by setting up another email address and having a code sent to that. They say it will take 3 - 5 days for a response.

This whole thing has ruined a good holiday.

koolpc · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:12

Surely they wont be able to access anything on your phone?

Azza · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:15

Don't have any backup codes for 2fa handy or that someone you can trust can access?

As above they won't be able to access your phone... unless they have your finger print.

jsmoke · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:24

Should be able to crack it via adb.

Mekrel · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:36

jsmoke said:
Should be able to crack it via adb.

They'll need access to the phone in an unlocked state to do that. They'll need to enable USB debugging & even if that's already unlocked, they'll need to approve the PC on the phone trying to access it via ADB.

jsmoke · 17 Aug 2019 at 20:43

Mekrel said:
They'll need access to the phone in an unlocked state to do that. They'll need to enable USB debugging & even if that's already unlocked, they'll need to approve the PC on the phone trying to access it via ADB.

Can you not do it via recovery, I'm sure there's a way to crack the PW without getting into phone.

Mekrel · 17 Aug 2019 at 21:18

Pretty sure you can't, if it were that simple then it would be a massive security flaw and widely reported.

I flashed my Pixel 3 using fastboot the other week and I had to enable USB debugging and approve the computer's RSA key before I could do anything. This all had to be done via the phone.

uvarvu · 17 Aug 2019 at 21:43

Was your SIM locked?

Diagro · 18 Aug 2019 at 09:41

jsmoke said:
Can you not do it via recovery, I'm sure there's a way to crack the PW without getting into phone.

Lol, just laughing at how little you think of phones security.

jsmoke · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:09

Diagro said:
Lol, just laughing at how little you think of phones security.

It's more how much I think of crackers, they seem to be able to crack anything, look at jailbreak for example.

andy_mk3 · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:13

jsmoke said:
It's more how much I think of crackers, they seem to be able to crack anything, look at jailbreak for example.

Jailbreak is entirely different to bypassing security.

jsmoke · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:16

andy_mk3 said:
Jailbreak is entirely different to bypassing security.

I see what you mean, if it's a 4 digit pin you could crack it otherwise pretty much impossible.

UnworthyBean · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:20

Older phones are relatively easy to get in to if you know what you're doing.

Your average thief will likely just wipe it and flog it on though.

Diagro · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:47

jsmoke said:
It's more how much I think of crackers, they seem to be able to crack anything, look at jailbreak for example.

......

MrRockliffe · 18 Aug 2019 at 10:49

On newer versions of android, even if you wipe it from recovery mode, you're asked to enter the password for the Google account being used on the device

warren_1979 · 22 Aug 2019 at 10:01

Hi guys. Thanks for your responses.

I got home from Paris yesterday. Yes I was a total noob for forgetting to take my backup codes for GA - lesson learnt. I have recovered my Google account and on looking at the security page it looks like they tried a few passwords 10 minutes after it was stolen but they never got in and then the phone disappears. So it probably been wiped and sold for parts maybe. Also, @MrRockliffe is correct that on newer versions of Android, if the phone is hard reset from recovery you need to use the Google account that was previously on the phone prior to the hard reset if you want to use the phone. Any other account will not work (I've been caught by this after buying a phone off ebay), but I think there could be ways around this via some hacks.

So if you are thinking of going to Paris look after your phone and take the backup codes.

Psycho Sonny · 22 Aug 2019 at 13:29

phone won't be stripped for parts. it will be sold or gifted to someone where it will work without issues. like africa, romania, china, etc.

KIA · 28 Aug 2019 at 21:09

Sorry to hear the bad news. How did they steal it?