I lost my Galaxy S7. It is now found and I am trying to open it.

[Android Central Question]

Apparently someone entered their google information and opened the phone, used the phone, and then factory reset it after using their google login. It is my phone and I want to get into it. How do I open it when the prompt won't take my google information which was the original information entered on the phone. I also have a Samsung account which backed up the phone. Please help me get into my phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! If you had a screen lock set, there's no way someone could do that -- they would've had to get past your screen lock, then remove your Google account before doing the factory reset. If they couldn't get past your screen lock, then Factory Reset Protection would have prevented them from doing a factory reset.

If you didn't have any screen lock set, then it's possible they could have used your phone, removed your Google account, did a factory reset, then set the phone up as their own. If that's the case, then (a) you won't be able to log in because it's set up with that person's Google account now, and (b) it wouldn't matter anyway since all of your local data would be wiped. Get a new phone and sync it with your Google and Samsung accounts -- hopefully you synced or backed up all of your important data. And if you weren't using a good screen lock before, you'll do so in the future.