Blender Underground

I suppose you heard that last month Google Gmail got hacked or farted and deleted a mess of accounts? Well none of my family was effected. However...

Yesterday my Dad was out of town on business and he tried to access his account from the motel. He gets "We've detected unusual activity on your account. To immediately restore access to your account, type your phone number below.".

First question comes to my mind, wtf is Google spying on us? My next question is, why do I want to give my cell or home phone number to someone who just admitted they been looking at my personal activity?

My Dad just signed up for a Yahoo mail account and contacted us from there. Later when he got home I was helping him to verify his gmail account. So he gave them the phone number and nothing. No ring. We tried this about 7 times and still nothing. So he starts filling an online form telling them his issue.

I know these are free email accounts but this is like having the postman come to your door and steal the mailbox. Then leave you a note telling you that he has been monitoring your mail. I know Google has a bad rep for being big brother and they don't help it by doing stupid crap like this.

That's why its free. They monitor your emails, searches, etc and sell adds to you based on that information. They may have wanted phone # to send txt to I.e. new password or security verification. Your dad probably needs a better password and not use open networks. Every wireless network can be cracked, what better than a hotel?

Personal information request = most probably one of these hackers succeeded to reach his email account (among others) and gave him an automated "GIVE ME INFO" error message.

I hope I am wrong and that Google does being trying to spy harder on us.

Either way, your dad may want to change his phone number if he want to avoid an heart attack on his next phone bill.

Just sayin.


PS : what is it worst, google having access to your emails or microsoft.
...cuz I'm on hotmail and I'm starting to wonder.

No, this is what happened. Our Dad tried to log into gmail (his wifi was not hacked) and it won't let him until he verifies his account with an automated phone call. There are 2 options SMS text to a cell or a computer calls you on a voice phone. You then receive a verification number. But apparently neither work. It doesn't give an option for other email address and the site is definitively Google. I told him to just apply for a new account but the old fart is all "BUT MY STUFF IS IN THERE" BooHoo

Even so, you can't reverse bill the number he gave them, since he uses those disposable cell phones. All in all I keep 3 to 4 email accounts up and running so I can bounce if I have problems with one. Also my brother is a bit naive when he says;



OF couse they DO! I can type in a gmail about Xbox and have ads about games in my mail. So I go with the idea that email is pretty much like what you type in a forum. Open for all the public to see. They do the same with the search engine and built that Chrome web browser for it too. The open source shows that the engine reports everything back to Google. The search site tracks your searches and spys on you surfing. To see where you have been go to https://www.google.com/history/ and you will see everything. I imagine if Google does this openly there must be others (yahoo,msn,etc) that do it in secret. I figure if Google wants to keep track of my porn searches for me they can. Who knows, I might want to dig up old photos of Lindsay Lohan someday.

Yea, that's why I use the adjective "harder" when describing Google's spying attitude.

I presume already Evol knew as well that Google is insanely spying on everything it can since it's very first day on this world.

...and that is one reason why it is so usefull.

Yes I just thought it was weird for them to say, uh excuse me we closed your account because we were spying on your activity. I am 95% certain the account didn't get hacked. This was just another Google screw up. I've noticed the dis-improvement of YouTube since they took over there too. Lately the Google home page takes longer to load up that I might as well be using Yahoo.

I think what happened today was pretty funny. Dad looked up Google HQ and called them. He was told there is no telephone support for gmail. So he said, "I got you and you MUST know someone to call?" Then after a moment he paused and said, "Ok I understand. Do you want to call me back or should I keep calling you daily until my account is restored?".

After he got off the phone, I asked him, he said they should have it on in 24 hours. Otherwise he plans to call them back. That's the more darker side of my Dad. But it could end up with a flight to California before it's over.

Il stick with my hack theory.

It is because his reverse DNS lookup showed he wasn't home (where he usually logs in from) so gmail security flagged it as "unusual". FaceBook does the same thing. It is a security thing. I don't have a gmail account but I too went through all this with FaceBook. The idea being if your account got hacked at least it is a warning indication. It sucks we have to go through this because of a few (read HUNDREDS) of asshats but that is life.

Possible.

although I suggest to be careful if he ask for credit card number next time you log on.

Well whatever reason they had, only they know. Dad got his account back after bugging the Ann Arbor Google HQ. He paid them a personal visit, something I am certain they don't expect from the average person. I thought for sure he would have to just create a new account. Apparently he went there and showed them first hand how his cell didn't ring after numerous attempts to verify. The conclusion was his phone being a prepaid disposable was the problem. So they gave it a land line number inside the campus and when that phone rang, it gave him the needed verification code to get his account back.

They claim the Google AI flagged his account for whatever the reason and it could happen again. It could even happen to you. Baw haha haha!

Well, Bravo for your father.

Loosing an account is nothing I wish to happen to me either, even if I am not in vital need of what is in there.

People treat these accounts as if they were Fort Knox or something. The key here is to not store sensitive info on those services. Look, security is only as good as the person sitting behind the keyboard. I know people think what they are doing online is "private" when that is so far from the truth it is silly. That is why I don't do anything serious with any account I have including this one. I don't do any financial transactions unless the site begins with HTTPS and even then I will prefer brick & mortar over online any day. I definitely don't do ANY banking online! Very dangerous that. Too many fishing expeditions going on these days.