Factory Reset, Google Photo's recovered old photos

Question

Recently purchased a Oneplus One second hand from eBay.
It was factory reset by previous owner, and it has since been factory reset by me a couple of times.



I have setup Google Photo's today and it's pulled in all my photo's like it should. However, it has also resurfaced all the previous owners photos and is currently backing them up to my Google Photos account!



When i look at the info on the images, it seems it's dragged them in from 'storage/emulated/0'



I wouldn't normally be bothered by something like this but these photo's contain enough information for some serious fraud/identity theft!
I have pictures of addresses, passports, credit cards, tax bills ....



How is this possible? Surely a factory reset should wipe all data?



For clarity, the phone is running stock Android 5, but is rooted (supersu) and running TWRP (both installed by previous owner).


— Barry Jarvis | Sources

Answer

storage/emulated/0 is what often is referred to as "internal SD card". A factory-reset leaves that untouched – unless it has such an option and you select it (e.g. recovery offers that).



Which means, you have to explicitly clear that storage – or all files stored there remain there. Which obviously was the case with your device: neither the previous owner nor you thought to delete the card. If you "explore" it (e.g. using a file manager app, or by connecting the device via using an USB cable) you will most likely find many other files from the previous owner still existing there: data apps have stored, photos, screenshots and more.



If you want to erase contents of the internal or external SD card, you fine the corresponding "buttons" in Settings › Storage.


— Izzy | Sources

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