Scammers ... and Gmail account advice · Poster Print on Demand

Oct 12 (edited) • 👀 Etsy

Scammers ... and Gmail account advice

Funny story...

The email account?

A new Gmail account I set up for my shop.. I had forgot Etsy specifically WARN NOT to set an email the same as the shop name... I had planned to use it for something else though. It was NOT the email for my Etsy account... fortunately.

I'm a computer nerd 🤓 - pretty wise to most of it... but still didn't think one day. I sent a reply to a direct email I received for an item in my shop. Worse still... I thought at the time it was a little "odd" as how have they got this email since it isn't actually the one I use to log into Etsy and I had not even published the email address they were using...

The hook?

Not the email in the photo (that's just an example from just now! I just listed an item and 3 mins later get this...)

The email I am referring to pointed out an error on the listing which turned out to be true, and as they had been helpful I replied and thanked them (as I was "being nice"). Went on my merry way.

The pain?

About 3-4 days later Google logged me out of all sessions of the new Gmail account. I could not log in. It would not accept the 2FA, always TOO MANY ATTEMPTS....

Luckily I had set up a phone number and recovery email. However, bots spamming it trying to get in meant I had to wait... 3 months I left it alone... Then I had to send in an appeal to Google, which I was granted due to having the phone and recovery email on the account - else I would have lost it...

Advice?

If you use gmail ensure you go "TO THE MAX" on setting up the 2 Factor Authentication and security... Ensure you get copies of the recovery codes. It will always grant you access or give you proof you "own the account".

Never respond to direct emails. They will most likely be bots / scams / hackers... How else have they got the email address?

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Scammers ... and Gmail account advice