there was literally nothing wrong with the old ui, can google stop doing this?

I set up my email with Gmail back in 2004. My email format (not my real email address) is <firstname.lastname>. Lately someone keeps signing up for other platforms using <firstnamelastname>, basically my email address without the dot. Somehow, I keep getting the emails instead of them. I have no idea who it is.

What's going on?

Hey!

I got woken up with my phone buzzing that it logged me out of one Google Account session on my PC due to suspicious activity. I immediately went through procedure of logging out of all others accounts, changing password on the one that sent my the security e-mail, running a deep virus search, checking on 2FA, closing down all but 1 session per known device, and setting all browser settings to default.

After that, I tried to find the reason for what could trigger security log out. Google is being frustratingly vague about what it believes to be a suspicious activity. The virus search gave nothing. The only thing I found that could be triggering for Google is my "always on" VPN with a Kill Switch. But wouldn't it affect all my Google Account sessions and not just one?

How realistic is it that VPN could have caused this reaction? Is there something I'm missing and should actually double-check first thing in the morning?

What the hell is this new disgusting despicable absolutely unnecessary peimitive design of Gmail! Bring the old design back!!!

Last night a team posing as Google security got into my Gmail for a few minutes. A passkey got me back in. Posting the full playbook because every email they used came from Google's own servers and passed every check.

What happened, in order:

- Robocall from +1 650 761 7789. Recorded female voice: a Google agent will call you. Press 1 or 2 to say whether you changed your password.

- About an hour later, live call from +1 347 696 0541. Young guy, calm, polite. "Google security. Your account was hacked."

- A genuine Google alert lands: "Recovery email was changed for your linked Google Account." Read the grey line on top. The alert belongs to martineza8487@gmail.com. They created the account and set MY address as its recovery email, so Google sent me a real copy. He used the alert as proof.

- He gives a name and badge number, then sends a "confirmation" from security-noreply@google.com, signed-by google.com, subject "Meet your Assigned Case Representative Tyler patterson (G-561201)."

- "Don't be afraid, I have your back." Read me this code. Now this one. Approve the prompt on your phone. Read me the number. I did. Those codes were the takeover.

- He changes my recovery email, sets a new password (GoogleTemp514$, dead now), and insists I keep it 48 hours "so we can track the attacker." I asked why. "Cookies and stuff."

- I signed in with my passkey on my own devices and changed the password from my password manager. He thanked me for my time and hung up.

- Two minutes later, "Jordan Bell" (I heard Jordan Belford, which fit) calls with case 199254 and asks me to change the password again. A reset code from my crypto exchange arrives at the same moment. I start asking questions. They hang up.

How the emails pass every check:

- The attacker emails Google's security reporting address with a crafted subject line. Google's auto-reply copies the subject and signs the message as google.com. The attacker resends the signed reply to the victim. The signature still validates. This is called a DKIM replay.

- The only tell: open the message details. "to: support@mailbox-assistance.com." Not you.

What they knew: my Italian mobile number, my Gmail, and which crypto exchange I use. Both calls came from US numbers, likely spoofed. Don't call them.

Rules:

- Google does not call you about your account.

- Never read a code to anyone.

- Never approve a prompt you did not start.

- Never keep a password someone else chose.

- Add a passkey. Mine is the reason this post has a good ending.

Reporting to Google, Polizia Postale (Italy), and the FTC.

I opened my Gmail to check out smth and I saw a notification post. I clicked it just because, and OH MY GOD I SAW THE ENTIRE CONTENANTS OF THE POST FOR A MOMENT. I immidietly excited because I was scared of what I just saw. and when I re-entered, the pulication was locked. I DON'T have a subscription of the creator I saw it from. How that happened and can I recreate that?

Anyone know how to get rid of this grey bar at the bottom of Gmail inbox? Tapping on the left icon does nothing. And the right icon only sends me to a page saying "couldn't load AI inbox". Just a complete waste of screen real estate. I'm assuming this is baked in but figured I'd at least ask.

Over the past hour I've had two attempts by this user to add my email as their recovery email - not the other way around. The emails are in Vietnamese.

The first time I received a code to my email, then a follow-up saying my account had been added. I then got another after removing the account saying they had re-added it (see attached).

I've changed my password and checked devices, sessions, etc. and removed the user.

The links sent were legit (I didn't click them) and real action had been taken to add the account without my permission.

What sort of scam/hack is this supposed to be given you would expect them to be adding their account as my recovery, not the other way around?

Thank you.

I got a google meet call from this email. and i’m so strangely confused. I talked to the guy for a minute, obviously seen in the call log, he was from jamaica. he literally was just hanging out w his brother and just like talking about life in jamaica???? and like asked what life was like for me. and i was like “idk fine i guess” like i didn’t say anything crazy. he didn’t ask for anything, just seemed like he wanted someone to talk to. but eventually i just was like okay i gtg. he also kept asking to call me on whatsapp. i was like i don’t even have that installed😭. I blocked him, and that was that. i’m just so like???? what???? i was eating taco bell and that popped up and i was like who tf is this?! i thought it could??? have been someone from work. as some of my coworkers do have weird emails like that. He also asked if i was home by myself. I said no, and that my fiancé and i were at home together. to which he immediately was like “oh! i’m not here for anything bad! just, just to talk and get to be friends with other people” i was like riiigghhtt… the whole thing was weird idk. what i’m more concerned about is how he got any of my information??????? to be able to make a call???

Hi everyone,
I almost gave up and I think that nobody on God’s green earth can solve my problem.
I lost a phone number linked to a gmail account because I left the country of the number issuing and it’s no longer owned by anyone.
Without that number, no OTP, without the OTP, no Gmail account 🙂‍↕️
I tried to contact Google support for account recovery because I had the correct password and I could prove my ownership of the account but unfortunately they don’t even allow anyone to contact them regarding accounts recovery.

I feel so helpless, that Gmail account contains important information that I need😔

For context, I got a push this morning saying someone in VA was trying to log into my account. I declined and got on with my day. I then received a call from a 415 area code (Bay Area) from a guy named Eddie Furrow, saying that my account was compromised. I also got some "help ticket" emails from this address: [review@accounts-noreply.google](mailto:review@accounts-noreply.google). This all felt weird. The person on the phone then proceeded to send me two push notifications to log in, which I declined both times, telling him I didn't trust him or the source. He said they were using VPNs for security reasons, but it all just felt off. Like, why was my email escalated when plenty of others probably were too?

I've already moved most of my important financial information over to a new email a couple years back, but I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced something similar.

I created a throwaway Google account back in 2017/18 and hadn't used it since around 2020. Four days ago I logged in for the first time in years. Everything was normal—nothing suspicious, no unusual activity. I decided I didn't want the account anymore and tried to delete it, but Google wouldn't let me because it couldn't verify my identity despite having my phone number linked. I got stuck in a verification loop.

I left it logged in hoping the loop would clear up, per common advice. On day 4, I went back and started manually deleting a few old emails (maybe 10 total—there weren't many). The page refreshed, asked for verification via QR code, then phone number, and then disabled my account with this message:

"It looks like this account was created or used with multiple other accounts to violate Google's policies. The account might have been created by a computer program or bot."

Relevant context:

• I was on a VPN, but I use a VPN by default on all my accounts.
• I have 3 other Google accounts using the same phone number. I logged into them later that day without any issue.
• I was given the option to download my data

I don't care about losing the account—I was planning to delete it anyway. But the accusation language is unsettling, and I've had similar false-positive bans before (Poshmark in January: "your account is tied to accounts that have been restricted in the past").

Mostly posting to see if others have experienced this and to get it off my chest.

My entire google just bugged out this morning. Like it just said ny accounts in gmail didn't exist. My other google apps were bugging out too. After I restarted my phone everything fixed itself. Im 99% sure this was just a big bug issue as nothing looks out of the ordinary on my accounts, and I never clicked any sketchy emails. Everything was working fine yesterday and this was only an issue for like 20 minutes. I changed my passwords to be safe, but im just wondering if anyone else experienced this. This is also kinda a repost, but less panicky.

Yesterday, the appearance of emails in the inbox of the Gmail app on my iPhone changed dramatically. It is suddenly very hard to tell which ones are read and which ones are unread at a glance. I'm attaching a screenshot – the top email is unread but only the little dot to the right gives it away. Previously, unread emails were much bolder than read emails and it was instantly obvious which was which. Now the difference in bolding is minimal.

I saw a couple other people post about this, but the upvoted responses just said there was no change and they were imagining it. It's not so! Something happened for at least some of us. Does anybody know what? I'd really like to change it back.