I've used Google mail for my primary email client for almost four years. Never had a bit of trouble. Everything worked like clockwork. I used a strong password (so Google told me); never told it to a soul; ran scans frequently for virus and malware.
Things were good.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I attempted to log into my Gmail. A huge page shot up, exclaiming, "Suspicious activity has occurred on this site. You must verify you are the owner."
Suspicious activity? What suspicious activity? What did that mean?
Notice it didn't say, "your password has been changed", or that "your isp doesn't match our records".
The activity was merely 'suspicious'.
I'm left to wonder if someone sang 'Way Down Yonder in the PawPaw Patch' (how would Google know that?), or if they typed on their keyboard with their hot little footsies (again, how does Google know that?), or what did they do to my account that was suspicious?
I'll be brief. I have not had a fun day.
Trying to verify and reclaim my account was worse than a migraine. Actually, the whole procedure has come close to giving me one.
What did I have to do to prove this was my account? For starters, you had to use four Google products, and you need to remember month, date, and year when you signed up for these items. Who writes down when they join YouTube? Is it a red letter day when you start your first Blogger?
It's not been pleasant, or easy. After a couple of hours, I received that looked-for email (to an alternate account) that led me to a link to reset a new password.
So I was able to log in again to my email and -- what suspicious activity? I contacted some people and no one received spam. I rechecked my settings. Nothing out of the ordinary. So what happened?
I have no idea.
Maybe I was just fortunate that I caught it in the nick of time and proceeded to rectify the issue before said suspicious activity person did any damage.
I'm grateful to be back to my email. Here's hoping I receive no more such surprises.
7 comments:
I am so sorry you had so much trouble. :( I have had those days, but not with Gmail yet. I hope it will be smooth sailing going forward.
I think many of us have gone through stuff like this where we cannot figure out what happened or what to do and you feel so at the mercy of someone "out there". I'm so glad it's been rectified.
Patti
Thanks, Rachel. It was awful, plain and simple. I hope no one else has to go through this!
Thanks for coming over. :)
Patti, that's so true. You really do feel at the "mercy" of some nameless person, or machine! Not a good situation at all!
Thank you for coming over. :)
Happened to me as well, and Google shut down both my website and e-mail. They didn't bother to inform me through an alternative e-mail address either. It took a day to get a reason/response from Google, and afterward I had to jump through security hoops and receive a robot telephone call and confirmation (yes, they required my home phone number) before everything would be restored. Google didn't use the term "suspicious" merely "unusual activity."
It's scary, SR, I admit it. Here I've now switched my site to Blogger where you MUST have Gmail to use it. Even now, with Gmail, they're requiring cell phone numbers.
I used to think Gmail was the cat's meow. But now I'm wishing I didn't have so much tied to it.
I feel your pain! I hate being at the mercy of these companies that can shut you down, mess with your site, freeze your account, etc., at the drop of a hat.
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