Question Unknown Connection Unable to Sign-out or Disconnect From

[theunknown]

I have spoken to reps at the following companies: T-Mobile, Tecky, Best Buy, and Google. This issue is new to all of them and none could figure it out, which is why I'm here. Accounts under "Passwords, passkeys and accounts" in Google Security there is one fewer account/connection listed, namely - Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Messenger, Opera, Signal and X - all which are expected/fine.
It's ONLY when I go to System-Factory Reset that another connection/app appearing as a ten digit number with a default android icon appears. It does not show up in any Google Security interface settings page I log into - web browser or app. I have signed out of other things such as Roku and Chromecast devices. If referencing a phone number, it's a Manhattan based, possibly assigned to Sony Electronics. I don't have any Sony products.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! When I do a reverse phone number search, it shows as a VoIP number. Do you recall ever using another VoIP service on your phone (like Skype or something similar) that you subsequently uninstalled? If so, maybe the account remained in the system as a glitch, even though you uninstalled the app (which is why it's showing the Android logo instead of the app's actual logo).

 

[theunknown]

Thank you, B., for your response!
I don't remember ever installing anything like that and haven't used Skype since just after dial-up days. I did install TextNow at one point, but I don't know if that's VoIP and I didn't choose/have a NYC #. Does it look like the sort of thing a hacker would use to direct calls and texts to a VoIP system?
I was surprised, but probably shouldn't be, that Google couldn't just revoke any and all sign-ins ever. I did go through the suggested "my account was hacked" steps, which included changing the password, but maybe that wouldn't really matter in a surveillance/forwarding scenario. I really wish there'd be some way to know exactly what that is and its source. I don't want to nix my Google account because I'd have to say sayonara to my YouTube channels too.

 

[B. Diddy]

TextNow does include a VoIP service, so I wonder if that might have been a number automatically assigned. But it'd be unusual for it to be a 212 number, since my understanding is that that area code ran out of numbers a while ago.

Try reinstalling TextNow, log into your account (if you can remember the credentials), and see if there's a number assigned to your account: https://www.textnow.com/blog/managing-your-textnow-account

 

[B. Diddy]

Also, try logging into your Skype account to see if that number might have been assigned to you back in the day.

 

[theunknown]

Excellent ideas, thanks!

 

[theunknown]

Thanks guys! I finally chatted with an security app rep who suggested it was attached to another app and suggested un-installing one at a time to see after which it would disappear. It ended up being Instagram. Threads created another 11-digit entry, which also disappeared when I nixed Threads. Facebook doesn't have a companion listing, but apparently some META apps do.