Stolen phone keeps syncing! What can I do?

[SebsMech89]

My phone (Moto X Play) was stolen two months ago, and I’ve been seeing suspicious activity in my google account ever since. I changed my Google password almost instantly after the incident, remotely locked the device and performed a factory reset, using the google tools available.

A month later I saw in “My account” settings that it connected to Google, but all the options for deleting, calling and locating were abailavle (Even if it culnd't be found). Now, I see that the Last synced date is December 14th, and the options “locate phone”, “ring” and the options for erasing and locking are not available anymore.

Does anybody know what’s happening, and if my personal information is secure? Does the person that is using it now have access to my account?

Is there anyway of making it remotely explode, or kicking it out of google?

Oh, I already tried the "sing out of all other web sessions" button, but it didn't work

 

[Golfdriver97]

If the device is connected to a wifi router, it will still communicate with Google. It doesn't necessarily have to be used by someone. Occasional reporting of locations will be sent, etc.

 

[SebsMech89]

Thank you for your answer, but the question is if my personal data is secure, if even after changing password and attempting to remotely reset it (don't know if it worked or not), Google says it keeps sycing.

What leads to... what is it syncing? My personal data (emails, phonebook, calendar...) or system data like updates and stuff?

 

[Rukbat]

It's syncing what's listed in the Google account on the phone. You (or the thief) can turn various items on or off.

I'm guessing that it keeps trying to sync because it's using the wrong password (since you changed it), Google keeps rejecting the login attempt, and it retries.

As for your data, any data on a computer not completely under your control (and that means physically and not connected to the internet) can be gotten into. Whether "your thief" knows enough to do that is the question. Since it keeps trying to sync, I'd go along with Golfdriver - he's using it on wifi and is unaware that it's trying to sync.

 

[hallux]

If it's still syncing that means it's communicating with Google. Have you gone to google.com/android/devicemanager and tagged the device for remote wipe? That will kill your accounts from the device and render it useless to the thief as it should then want your Google account to be signed in to reactivate it.

 

[SebsMech89]

Maybe the hypothesis of the wifi connection and the wrong password is right, but when robbers steal a phone, they use an external PC to unlock it and perform a factory reset to resell it, so it's weird that he keeps trying to connect... Here's an idea: does google recognize a phone by IMEI or some other method other than the user's email? Maybe the reset was successful, but Google can still "see" the phone as mine. Maybe this option (as I see it in my current phone) has something to do with it, as you still can interact with it after remotely signing out:



Hallux, I remotely changed my password, replaced the unlock pattern with a numeric code and performed a factory reset from my girlfriend's phone, a few minutes after the incident. For a couple of weeks after, from Google's "Find your phone" I was still able to select the "locate", "ring" and "wipe" options, but one day they just dissappeared. Here's what I see now from the "find your phone" screen:



It's odd, but in .../devicemanager's drop down menu, the Moto X Play is not available!