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Hacked phone

ellaroseglasgow

ellaroseglasgow

Lurker
Hi wonder if anyone can help my phone has had someone sitting in it foe months now first I had my Google account compromised hen I was locked out my phone I'm also locked out of the main phone is this is in the secure older I'm doing this from I downloaded a file manager and the stuff on me phone which doesn't belong to me is frightening I'm using 12Gb of memerory and I've only purchased this phone I have no photos music movies fb as that's being hacked also my ram is sitting at 82% I've downloaded cleaners ram cleaners but I'm locked out of them all I don't know what this person wants but this feels as that's if its not my phone I change something and its changed back to where I changed it from I feel creeper out at this stalked as I feel he knows my every move my phone just isn't private and I certainly don't have any privacy I've been twice now to get it fixed costing over a hundred pound can someone please help when I downloaded file manager it had came up can't delete files so I've tried everything I thought a hacker was just after your bank cards then leave and go somewhere else please can anyone give me suggestions on this it would be much appreciated thank you...
 
It doesn't sound like your phone was hacked. More like someone has control over your Google (gmail) account, which in turn will allow them to access your phone.

What kind of phone is it? Did you buy it new? Has it ever been rooted or modified in any way? And, has it ever been out of your possession long enough for someone to install something malicious?

Assuming you didn't root this phone and it's been in your possession since day one, I would do a couple of things. First, reset your Google password. Then right after that enable two-step authorization. That way, if the person or persons who have your current gmail credentials try and change them, you'll be notified and they won't be able to do it.

Once you have changed your Google password, open your phone settings and make sure auto-restore is turned off. Then remove all your accounts from it (especially the Google account) and factory reset the phone.

And, if you are not too tied to that old gmail account, I'd create a new one with 2-step verification on from the beginning.
 
Thank you for replying I bought the phone brand new my phone is a Samsung galaxy A5 2017 the times I've had my phone away from me was getting repaired the first time was only a day the second time it was like a week to unlock a code which I thought myself was pretty long so anything could have happened really but what I don't understand a phone came up on my activity and it was a galaxy j5 2016 so its not the software he's after what is it this person is wanting so if something has been put on my phone even if I master reset it it will still be there what can I do then when someone compromised my email weeks back I paid £50 to have it removed changed everything then a couple if days later suspicious things started again what can I do now is my phone for the bin now will I ever get rid of this what I can't understand is what are they wanting from me...
 
Bear in mind that a couple of the things you mentioned may actually be normal.

You say you have 12GB used already, but where did you get that figure from? The total space you are told the phone has includes the space taken by the phone's software and pre-installed apps. So for example a Samsung Galaxy S8 comes with 64GB installed, but about 52GB available to the user - 12GB "used" before you have done anything. Others might use less (the old phone I'm typing on has 25GB available to the user out of 32GB installed), so we'd need to know what phone you have to say what you should expect, but as you see above this might actually be normal and expected.

High RAM usage also may not be a sign of trouble. Android is designed to make use of the RAM by keeping recent or frequently used apps cached (this is more efficient than leaving a lot of ram empty - if the phone needs the space it will clear it). So I'd not necessarily worry about that, and RAM-cleaning apps are generally a waste of time (if anything are likely to slow the phone down and use more power).

Not saying you don't have a problem, just that not all of the things that are worrying you are necessarily abnormal. Just don't want you to fix the problem but still think there is something wrong if these things don't change. And it's possible they are signs of something, but we'd need more information to tell.
 
ellaroseglasgow said:
but what I don't understand a phone came up on my activity and it was a galaxy j5 2016
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Could you explain this a little better? You mean the device listed in Android Device Manager says its a J5 and not the A5 you have? Are they BOTH listed or just one?

ellaroseglasgow said:
what can I do then when someone compromised my email weeks back I paid £50 to have it removed changed everything then a couple if days later suspicious things started again
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You change the gmail account, not the phone. Could you also be a little more specific about "suspicious things"? What is happening that you think someone else is controlling your account?
 
Hi guys thanks for the feedback when I went into my activity there is two phones logged onto this phone my phone and a J5 the suspicious things are when I change any settings I look again and they are changed back to what I wasn't wanting also just realized my Samsung account must have been deleted as i don't have a Samsung account registered and I actually made one up in the shop I've just phoned Samsung as well and they told me no account with this name I actually think I'm going insane also another thing that happened I locked all apps and before I could put a code on one was put on before me so I was locked out of all apps the way round that I deleted the apps with the codes another thing play music has been used with the free trial and I can't get into anything to see what email it is also apps downloaded which I haven't downloaded there's other things but its all too much to take in oh I noticed call + been downloaded and call with a share sign next to it dual messages what ever that is I hope I have gave you enough information on this this time thanks so much for your time x
 
It really sounds like someone else has your Google credentials. I also think you are confusing Google Play with Samsung. Even if your Samsung account was deleted, Samsung would have a record of it. They don't purge and erase customer information ... ever.

Change the password on the Google account and enable 2-step as I've stated before. I'd also check Google's Privacy Settings for your account and make sure all the contact information is correct and there isn't any alternate contacts that you don't recognize. Once you do that, everything else should stop (unless you have multiple accounts on your phone.)
 
Thanks very much but I forgot to say I got an email from Microsoft asking me to verify my account which I didn't make up also Google contacted me saying someone was trying to use my email as a secondary account I've noticed bing and MSN pop up why does someone want to use your phone like this this is what I can't understand why not just use there own phone when I downloaded file manager it has loads and loads of files that you can't open well them all actually how can they manage to do this without having a keyboard or actually having the phone there's picker downloaded whatever that is some of the stuff I haven't even heard of heres me thinking I knew quite alot about phones lol but this has just through me what I can't get my head around is why not use there own phone why hang around so long on someone's elses device anyway thank you so much to both of you for your help it was so much appreciated I just wish I could have explained it better for you both but there is so much happening with it I tried my best to get it across thanks so much again you where a great help x
 
The more you tell us the more you have me convinced that your account is being used (or trying to be used) by someone else. Do your best to fix it, and do it quickly.

So you asked why would someone do that. Let's look at just a few reasons why. First it could be a harmless prank by a person you know who likes messing with you. While this might be the best case, it's also the least likely.

More likely is someone needs a safe, unblocked email address because they do bad things and they want to remain anonymous. The worst case is they are stealing information from you to open accounts or other things AS you that you might be held accountable for. It does sound like they are pretty active, so the sooner you fix this, the better.

Go to https://accounts.google.com/signin/recovery if you cant get to https://myaccount.google.com/ with your password. And I would caution you that there is not phone number for Google support, but there are a lot of scammers trying to pass themselves off as Google support. Only trust those links I just gave you.
 
lunatic59 said:
The more you tell us the more you have me convinced that your account is being used (or trying to be used) by someone else. Do your best to fix it, and do it quickly.

So you asked why would someone do that. Let's look at just a few reasons why. First it could be a harmless prank by a person you know who likes messing with you. While this might be the best case, it's also the least likely.

More likely is someone needs a safe, unblocked email address because they do bad things and they want to remain anonymous. The worst case is they are stealing information from you to open accounts or other things AS you that you might be held accountable for. It does sound like they are pretty active, so the sooner you fix this, the better.

Go to https://accounts.google.com/signin/recovery if you cant get to https://myaccount.google.com/ with your password. And I would caution you that there is not phone number for Google support, but there are a lot of scammers trying to pass themselves off as Google support. Only trust those links I just gave you.
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Donald Walker
 
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