topic Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again in Other Smartphones

Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:34:53 GMT

I have a elderly customer who's phone was stolen and recovered by police, now they have it back it asks for a 4 digit pin? How do they get this?

Many thanks

Dave

Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

CrazyTom2k2 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:55:12 GMT

Hey there Whitey82!

In terms of getting back into the phone, do you/does your customer know if there was a Samsung Account logged into the handset? If yes, you should be able to use Samsung's Find my Phone to remove the PIN.

Failing that, if there was a Google Account signed in to that phone, you might be able to change the password by locking the device using Google's Find my Device.

Otherwise, sounds like you'll need to boot into recovery mode and wipe the phone/factory reset in order to get rid of that PIN.

Hope this helps!
Tom

Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:55:57 GMT

Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 10:44:43 GMT

Hi Tom, thanks for your reply. they don't have a samsung account but we tried to login using their Google account but it kept bringing us back to this screen so we were just going round in circles. I did try a factory reset and reboot last night but still came up asking for the same info again. any other suggestions?

Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

CrazyTom2k2 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 10:56:56 GMT

Hey again Whitey82, looks like Factory Reset Protection's kicked in.

Basically, you'll need to connect the phone to Wi-Fi or put a SIM in, and then you'll need to log in with your customer's Google Account. If the customer doesn't know their password for Google, they should be able to reset that and then login with the new password.

Apart from that, there's no way to bypass FRP - it's a feature designed to prevent phones being stolen, as if they're bricked, they're worthless. At which point you're probably best returning the phone/refunding the customer, or replacing the phone. Either way, give 'em an option. It's Christmas, they're gonna need their phone. Even though the phone's blocked through FRP, the screen and stuff can be used for parts - just not the main board. Swap the mainboard out and you've got a functional handset 🙂.

Tom 🙂

Re: Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 13:25:57 GMT

thanks again for your help. we have reset their password, we can enter the email and it accepts the password but then everytime comes up with this message. I never provided the phone im just helping them out as they have other services with myself

Re: Re: Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

CrazyTom2k2 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 13:34:27 GMT

@whitey82 no problem! If it pops up with Something Went Wrong, I'd give Samsung's Customer Services a call - almost sounds like activation's been blocked. Sorry I couldn't fix this one.

Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

Mitzzz999 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:26:51 GMT

when I was working for one the telecoms and this happened we sent it to SBE as part of the network warranty after verifying the imei is owned by the customer, SBE are able to reset it or Samsung direct provided that the customer still has proof of purchase. this was a while ago, don't know if rules and regulations have changed.

Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 19:42:19 GMT

hi mitz, they bought the phone from tesco mobile a couple of years ago. is it worth phoning them?

Re: Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

Mitzzz999 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 19:51:09 GMT

I would... especially if its within the 24 months warranty. Even if outside the warranty they should be able to provide proof of purchase like for example insurance claims.

it looks like you've gone past the Factory Reset Protection part by resetting the Gmail password... so that was the main issue but this thing where it says "something went wrong" i don't understand why its doing that.

I'm bit concerned that if its outside the 24 month warranty they may have to pay Samsung to fix it.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 19:57:05 GMT

OK cheers, will try tesco. I'll keep you updated

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

Mitzzz999 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 20:08:30 GMT

I understand this is a public forum so its quite tricky to communicate certain things but if you know what a Samsung Elite is or the people that the Samsung Elites report to with updates... they maybe able to take it further. its good what you're doing btw, please keep me updated, thanks.

Re: Galaxy J4+ stolen recoved, need pin to use phone again

whitey82 — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:10:37 GMT

ok so samsung customer service were really helpful. basically it'll need flashing by them to be used again and they can collect it within 48 hours and then quote before doing any work. does anyone have a rough idea on their charges as they couldn't tell me this? no point having it repaired if its not much more to just buy a new handset?