Avoiding Scams: Why Hackers Can’t Recover Your Gmail for You

Seriously, they can’t. It’s a scam.

We rely on our email for so many important things. To have your Gmail account vanish — potentially forever — can be heartbreaking.

Scammers know this, and they are absolutely prepared to jump in and help… themselves.

Let’s review why these scams are so common, and what to do instead.

Gmail account recovery scams

Losing your Gmail account is super frustrating, and scammers know it. They post fake success stories, promising they can help recover your account. Don’t fall for it! These scammers just take your money and run. Only Google’s official recovery tools can help you. Protect yourself by setting up recovery options.

Promising the world

Have you seen posts similar to this?

My page recovery would never be successful without your support and hard work. I feel blessed to work with such an incredible and talented person like you, <name redacted>. I knew that you could do this. Keep up your excellent work in the future. You are a perfect example of a good, dedicated person.

Or this:

Hello there, wonderful souls! I was a victim of crypto scam and lost a lot. I am beyond elated to share my profound appreciation for the remarkable efforts of the team <email address redacted>. Their unparalleled expertise paved the way for me to recover a substantial $82,000 in lost cryptocurrency. If ever faced with the daunting prospect of lost crypto funds, look no further.

These comments, posted on articles and videos discussing account recovery, claim to be from individuals who have been helped by someone (“<name redacted>” above) and are thanking them and praising their efforts. These fake testimonials are intended to lure desperate folks to reach out to the named individual for assistance.

Sometimes a link takes you to the individual’s page, but more often there’ll be instructions to search for <name redacted> on WhatsApp or Telegram or any number of other communications platforms.

I understand the appeal. It looks like there’s a stream of satisfied customers who’ve managed to get their accounts back due to the efforts of “<name redacted>”.

Except, of course, it’s all a lie.

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The harsh reality

Hackers have no more access to Google than you do. Google doesn’t provide extra assistance to third-party so-called account recovery services.

In other words: hackers can only do the things you could do yourself (if they were to even bother trying to recover your account; they don’t). There’s nothing more they can add to the process.

Only you can recover your Google account. Using Google’s recovery tools, you, and only you, need to prove that you’re the rightful account holder.

What happens when you pay

If you contact one of these hackers for account recovery, 99 times out of 100 they’ll do exactly three things:

1. Ask for money.
2. Take your money.
3. Disappear.

They may also use your desperation to collect additional personal information from you, allowing them to hack more of your accounts or commit fraud in your name.

Your desperation is the key. It’s unfortunate, but we often make ill-informed decisions because we’re so desperate that any offer of help represents a lifeline to grasp. Unfortunately, there’s no one at the other end of the rope who will help.

What to look for

These scams have common red flags.

• Testimonials in comments to promote or thank a supposed recovery service or person.
• Whatsapp, Telegram, or similar contact methods are used. Even email and phone numbers should be suspect.
• Over-the-top praise. Sometimes it’s clearly written by someone for whom English is not their primary language. It’s readable, but may include awkward phrasing that a native speaker would not use.
• Over-the-top promises of success.
• Claims of “backdoor” or other forms of insider access.

Even though it’s difficult in such a desperate time, give your gut time to absorb what’s being presented, and trust your intuition if things feel even the slightest bit off.

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Do this instead

The only way to recover a Google account is to carefully follow Google’s instructions, making use of all the options those instructions might make available.

I’ve read you can improve your chances by using devices you’d previously used to sign in to the account in physical locations from which you’ve accessed the account before.

But you and I are limited to what Google offers. If the recovery process can’t be made to work, your account is lost. Move on and start over.

Learn from the experience

If nothing else, please learn from the experience. You, and only you, are responsible for the security of your Google account.

• Add recovery information to your account and keep it up to date.
• Set up two-factor authentication. It’s not nearly as annoying as some claim, and it’s the single best step you can take to secure your account.
• Use a password manager to keep all that information secure.

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