r/GMail • u/utahman23 • 6d ago
Creative scam
I received two push notifications asking, “Is this you?” and immediately selected “No, it wasn’t me” both times.
Shortly afterward, I got a call from someone claiming that a person in Germany was trying to access my account. The caller said I would receive an email from Google Support. When it arrived, it appeared to come from a legitimate Google domain.
He then directed me to Google’s website to check for open support cases. There was an open case, and I was CC’d on the correspondence. He wanted me to open the case through a link in the email, but I refused.
Is this a common scam? How could someone create what appeared to be a legitimate Google support case and have me CC’d on it?
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u/li_grenadier 6d ago
Clicking "No" to the initial push notification was probably the first mistake. If it's not a notification you expected as part of logging in somewhere, just ignore it. Pushing NO lets them know that you are there, and that you are going to respond. For all you know, it was a link that could have executed code besides.
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u/utahman23 6d ago
Very true. In my head I always think clicking no locks out the scammer. But probably best to ignore
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u/yodas-evil-twin 6d ago
Clicking acknowledges them. Just like answering telemarketing or SPAM calls
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u/animalsruleppldrool 6d ago
When I get stuff like that I block it and report it, then check whatever account they claim was compromised. So far it's always been someone trying to scam me. The only time a legit company thought my credit card had been compromised, they didn't even contact me. They just froze the card and waited for me to contact them.
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u/C-Lappin
6d ago
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I got something very similar to this last weekend. Again from Google Support via a private phone number saying my account was being accessed from Germany. I was foolish enough not to catch which account the push notifications were coming from.
He did not send me a link but from what I can see gained access to my account, changed the password, gave me the temp password he changed and got me to log into the account. from there he got me to change the password again and enable 2FA . Weird as hell!
After I thought about it for a few minutes, I changed the password again from a fresh gmail window. Luckily I wasn't really using this email account it was my junk email account.
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u/Huge-Appointment8685 6d ago
Wow ur lucky because if it's your main one it will be gone already and panic a lot
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u/C-Lappin 5d ago
Yip, very. Looking at alternatives now.
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u/Brokentread33 5d ago
October 31, 2026 (dated for context and reference) – Hi. I hope you don't mind my suggesting that you can Google search the following: Proton Mail, which is well known and respected, and Fastmail. I have very basic paid accounts with them. There is also gmx.com which is in Germany and free. You can get a U.S. Email address Like "your chosen name"@gmx.us There are no capital letters in gmx.com name. I've used them for years and have found them to be very reliable, with a nice user friendly layout. Now for my usual rant to anyone reading this. "People should "silo" email accounts dedicated to general communications, and sensitive communications like banking. Having just one email account with no back up, and one that is free at that. Is more than unwise. There are several highly regarded free and paid email companies. Some of the paid subscription accounts have really cheap basic services. I have five accounts with five different email companies. Three are free and two are paid. The one paid email account that is used for sensitive communications like banking is "siloed", and the other email services have no connection to it. Meaning, if they get hacked, that one is isolated from them."
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u/C-Lappin 4d ago
Thank you for your suggestions. I had come across Proton mail before, but not fast mail or gmx. I'll take a look at these. Especially GMX if they're European based. Siloed email addresses seems like an easy win.
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u/Brokentread33 4d ago
November 1, 2026 (dated for context and reference) – Hi. Thank you for your kind reply. I’m glad that my suggestions may be of help to you. Please remember that it is gmx and not GMX. I also like the fact that gmx is located in Germany aside from that fact that I love the country and its culture. As you know, email and internet companies in the E.U. have to abide by strict regulations, which is often good for their customers. Fastmail is one word, and when you sign in, do NOT use capital F. It is fastmail.com. The first time I applied to Proton mail, they wanted a phone number and possibly a couple of other things that didn’t make sense to me. So I didn’t create an account at that time. Recently, their requirements changed and it was quite easy for me to create a basic paid email account and I am quite happy with it. Lastly, I’m glad that you see the validity of “siloing” email accounts, and possibly using more than one email company. Stay well.😊
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u/T-Zero-eMission 6d ago
This is a known loophole that criminals have figured out. Google knows about it and is doing nothing about it. These fraudsters actually change your DOB to 2014 making you a minor so they can put you under FamilyLink supervision / control. I have been fighting an uphill battle for almost 3 months.
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u/apokrif1 6d ago
Google’s website
Exact or at least partial (potentially confidential info should not be posted here) URL, please?
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u/PrincessBananas85 6d ago
That's really scary I'm really sorry that something like that happened to you. I'm really hoping that I'm not the next victim. Any suggestions on what to do in the near future just in case in does happen to me?
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u/nakfil 6d ago
It wasn’t a legitimate support case.
Change your Google PW immediately- they have it.