Lost phone

[Becksbecks1996]

I had a Samsung Galaxy S10 that was stolen. I bought it a couple months ago. I think the person who stole it, wiped the information on the phone but I was told by a samsung representative that the person cannot use the phone unless the person has one of my email details that was previously signed in on the phone. I am hoping that there is someone out there who can track my phone using the IMEI code (no IMEI tracker app was installed) . Or if someone can track the location where it was last used at ( I was calling my number when I realized it was lost) so if someone was able to track where the number was last ringing at, I will be able to prove that the person stole my phone and hopefully they will return it. I am so desperate to find my phone but this person is reluctant to admitting that she stole the phone and there is so many valuable information on my phone. I had almost my whole life planned out in detail in that phone. I wish there was some way I can just the information even if I don't get back the phone but my files weren't backed up. Please please please someone please help me track it. I will compensate you for your time if necessary..I'm desperate for.some help.

 

[ocnbrze]

that sucks man.

do you have a samsung acct? if you do you should be able to use their find my phone feature. just log into your samsung acct from any device and use the feature. you should be able to lock it as well.

and just to put your mind at ease.....the rep was correct in that all google phones have FRP (Factory Reset Protection). this prevent thieves from stealing a phone, doing a factory reset, and creating or using their existing acct to use the phone. now days if you factory reset you will need your google acct info.

i would also just in case log on to google and change your password to be extra cautious as well.

 

[Hadron]

However I should add that you cannot track a phone unless it has an active internet connection and also has a tracking program installed and active. So if they have reset the phone FRP will stop them using it, but you won't be able to track it. And unfortunately if they have reset the phone your information is gone. I'm sorry if this post is very pessimistic, but this is the reality.

It's also an urban myth that you can track a phone using the IMEI. It's true that when it connects to a cellular network they see the IMEI of the device, so they know what cell towers it is connected to, which gives a rough coordinate (not a precise one). But they won't provide that information to you (if the police consider it important enough they would provide it to them, but that's unlikely for a simple phone theft), and there is no way that anyone else can use the IMEI to track a phone.

If you have something like Google location history enabled you might however be able to track where it was until the point where it was taken off the network or reset. And if you have Google's app and web activity logging enabled (they like this to be the default) it might be possible to find where the last call was made - ironically this ability is one of the reasons I disabled all of that stuff (to me it's a backdoor to Google tracking me).