View Full Version : intrusive google email accounts...maybe spying or
themadness
27-08-2010, 01:27 PM
when i use google chrome to check my g-mail account it gives me suggestions when i type in the username field. this is totally expected as i know that chrome saves cookies, history, and pretty much every aspect of your life. something disturbing has been happening lately though. whenever i type in the username, i have been getting suggestions for accounts that do not belong to anyone in my household. my wife and i are the only ones who use the computer and we share the gmail account. this has happened before and i searched for the username account and found nothing. is it possible my email account may have been invading by outside users? is there any way to find out for sure and what can i do about it? :eek:
oneup
27-08-2010, 01:53 PM
That's very strange. I currently use GMail (I want to get rid of it ASAP, but a new address sucks) and I've never experienced this.
It's possible that people have used your PC to log into their account without your knowledge.
themadness
27-08-2010, 02:07 PM
its my home PC and only my wife and i have used it. do you mean it could have been accessed from an outside source.......remotely i guess would be the proper term.
oneup
27-08-2010, 03:04 PM
"suggestions for accounts that do not belong to anyone in my household" that's really, really weird. I've just opened GMail on Chrome and I only get suggestions from usernames I've entered. Maybe you can post a screenshot?
The only things I can come up with are:
Unauthorized people have used your PC, locally or remotely.
You're not visiting the actual GMail site, but a fake. This could be due to some kind of malware. Make sure the URL in the address bar is really gmail.com. mail.google.com or something similar. If you see a totally different domain, something's up.
Maybe a more "Google savvy" person can jump in and offer some help?
themadness
27-08-2010, 03:19 PM
it only does it when i use chrome so that may be significant data. like you said it gives suggestions only for things that i entered in the username field. it shows the one i use, one i misspelled that i typed in a hurry, and the one i where i typed in the whole email address. now i am getting 2 new alien usernames and the gmail address is correct. it makes me nervous b/c back in 2005 my SS number was stolen and credit card opened my name. the perp spent 6000 dollars at walmart in 3 days. it took me forever to get it resolved. especially since i had to prove that i never opened an account with that credit card company.
killuminatiist
31-08-2010, 11:27 PM
My gmail account has been closed down, they want my mobile number for confirmation to "re activate" it, said there has been unusual activity on the account...
asevaaamas
01-09-2010, 03:49 AM
You should just get rid of Gmail altogether. It's a real shame because I love the format of Gmail especially how nicely one can customize it. For a while I loved having it and used it often. However the "relevant" ads creeped me out. I would be discussing something in an email with someone and notice that the ads displayed on the side of the page included key words from what I'd written. If they can do this then how do I know someone is not keeping track of all my emails? I don't trust it at all. I'd like total privacy when it comes to emails and knowing that Google can access what I've written, even just for ads, is too far over the line as far as I'm concerned.
I'm currently looking for a decent alternative that's free and customizable. If anyone knows any please let me know.
killuminatiist
01-09-2010, 04:35 AM
You should just get rid of Gmail altogether. It's a real shame because I love the format of Gmail especially how nicely one can customize it. For a while I loved having it and used it often. However the "relevant" ads creeped me out. I would be discussing something in an email with someone and notice that the ads displayed on the side of the page included key words from what I'd written. If they can do this then how do I know someone is not keeping track of all my emails? I don't trust it at all. I'd like total privacy when it comes to emails and knowing that Google can access what I've written, even just for ads, is too far over the line as far as I'm concerned.
I'm currently looking for a decent alternative that's free and customizable. If anyone knows any please let me know.
Yeah me too, I got into bother with a loan company a "payday" loan company, and all I could see advertised on Gmail was "payday loans today" "have £1000 today" etc, So they defo scan emails for keywords to give you "relevant" ads.
themadness
01-09-2010, 01:08 PM
i am glad you pointed that out. i have noticed that but didnt think to much about them scanning emails for keywords. wouldnt any email service like yahoo or hotmail be able to do that tho? i dont think any email is totally private anymore.
killuminatiist
01-09-2010, 03:50 PM
i am glad you pointed that out. i have noticed that but didnt think to much about them scanning emails for keywords. wouldnt any email service like yahoo or hotmail be able to do that tho? i dont think any email is totally private anymore.
Yeah I should imagine so, but Gmail is the worst for it in my oppinun from what ive seen, no emails are private now anyway, dont the police and other authoritys have permission to check any email they like? and text messages?
themadness
01-09-2010, 03:58 PM
i think they can if they have "probable cause", but they can make that shit up.
Data Protection Act 1998 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
before the patriot act........
Patriot Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
after the patriot act.......
excuse me sir, i am with the federal govt., do you mind if i steal your personal info and then ass rape you?
skyver
01-09-2010, 04:28 PM
when i use google chrome to check my g-mail account it gives me suggestions when i type in the username field. this is totally expected as i know that chrome saves cookies, history, and pretty much every aspect of your life. something disturbing has been happening lately though. whenever i type in the username, i have been getting suggestions for accounts that do not belong to anyone in my household. my wife and i are the only ones who use the computer and we share the gmail account. this has happened before and i searched for the username account and found nothing. is it possible my email account may have been invading by outside users? is there any way to find out for sure and what can i do about it? :eek:
To be honest I'd have a strong word with your kid(s) if you have made it clear that your pc is not to be used, otherwise call probe your wife with some deeper questions. Someone has used you pc & if it was for fraud from the outside they would have your details & would not leave a trace like this. I'm not saying your wife is cheating but I bet when your out , she may have had some freinds round for girly facebook "being nosey" night! For example, if I use my girlfriends pc, about 6 names can come up if I randomly press the wrong key. Google have the means to spy on you anyway without having to do this. It's irritating as other email a/c's are not as good feature wise.
For privacy, even though I have every type of blody email address I just registered with hushmail. You don't get a lot for the free service but it seems like it has more privacy than the big boys.
skyver
01-09-2010, 04:38 PM
Lets get this straight as when I'm reading the replies, they are stating how google are scanning keywords, which the most definitely are guilty of but, your saying when you go to log in & press a key it brings up another email address, for example my email could be "davesmith@gmail.com" so after I've typed it & left the computer, someone else goes to the same computer & presses the letter D & it brings up "davesmith@gmail.com" & every other email adress starting with D, is this what you mean? This is what I thought you mean't, if it is not, ignore my advice as this i what I thought you mean't. But still have a look at Hushmail as I've noticed a few companies yousing them for email etc so it is worth a look. Also if anyone else can point out some good secure email providers as I would ( and many others I presume) would like to know as well.
themadness
01-09-2010, 05:06 PM
Lets get this straight as when I'm reading the replies, they are stating how google are scanning keywords, which the most definitely are guilty of but, your saying when you go to log in & press a key it brings up another email address, for example my email could be "davesmith@gmail.com" so after I've typed it & left the computer, someone else goes to the same computer & presses the letter D & it brings up "davesmith@gmail.com" & every other email adress starting with D, is this what you mean? This is what I thought you mean't, if it is not, ignore my advice as this i what I thought you mean't. But still have a look at Hushmail as I've noticed a few companies yousing them for email etc so it is worth a look. Also if anyone else can point out some good secure email providers as I would ( and many others I presume) would like to know as well.
you are correct about the manner in which the extra emails appear. my only kind is 3 so i know he doesnt mess with it.:D
my wife and i are the only ones who use it and neither of us have a facebook account. no one ever comes over and if they did they wouldnt be allowed to use my pc. my wife and i have a very trusting relationship so i know she doesnt have another email account. there has to be a reasonable explanation for it. is there some way to bring up the username and get the password?
themadness
01-09-2010, 05:32 PM
ok............did a little digging. but all i could come up with so far is that my internet provider had activity with my gmail account. how and why would they do that?
skyver
04-09-2010, 09:02 PM
I think you said in an earlier post that you tried the emails & they didn't work? Do you mean you sent an email to them & it came back as not an email address? I was going to say set up another email a/c & send it but even if it was real, they ain't gonna respond to an email they probably don't know. From what you said I think someone has used your computer. What about any of your mates?
Why not clear you cookies etc & use cc cleaner on your pc so noting shows up anymore, maybe it's nothing to worry about.
gallifrey
04-09-2010, 09:19 PM
Try using GMail with a client, such as Thunderbird, and add a PGP encryption extension, at least.
I don't trust Google in the slightest, but at least you don't get spammed with them like you do with Yahoo mail.
Hushmail is good. There was another one too...very private, with inbuilt encryption from the web interface. However, I am not sure how viable it would work out to be with Chrome, as I am not too sure exactly how much data it calls home with.
Google Chrome redirects not only search data, but URL data through to Google, so it can, allegedly, assist with auto-completion, etc. This feature can be deactivated, but I am still wary. Is Chromium an option to you? It's chrome, but without the Google stamp and extras.
Overall, IMHO, if you are going to use webmail, you might be best off doing so through a client.
gallifrey
04-09-2010, 09:54 PM
In addition, a little experiment you could try, just to put your mind at ease (or put you off Chrome): clear your history. Cookies, cache, temp files, the lot.
then log into your e-mail, and see if these names pop up. If they do, it something to do with Google. If not, someone else has been accessing your machine.
themadness
05-09-2010, 02:07 AM
gmail has a "details" feature that allows you to see the tracked activity to your email. i went thru it and there were 2 entries that were listed as my internet providers IP address. one was the local office and the other was the home office in atlanta. i thought it was weird that my internet provider which is AT&T would be able to access my gmail account. the provider uses yahoo as its base email account, so when you buy there service they point you to yahoo automatically. i would think that the gmail account would be separate and encrypted, but i may be wrong.
i use ccleaner, avast, and superantispyware to keep my machine clean and my wife and i are the only ones that use it. i will do the cookie, cache and history dump to see what happens. thanks for the info.
asevaaamas
05-09-2010, 07:32 PM
^^^ wow that's creepy that they can access your email account
What's the point in having passwords if these people can just log on and snoop around anyway?
There's no privacy online
forget Gmail google overall is spying and watching our every move, i have noticed that everything you search in google is controlled, they only let you see what they want you to see, i find it really strange that anyone would trust the chrome internet browser, you are only letting yourself be open to surveillance.
gallifrey
06-09-2010, 09:43 AM
forget Gmail google overall is spying and watching our every move, i have noticed that everything you search in google is controlled, they only let you see what they want you to see, i find it really strange that anyone would trust the chrome internet browser, you are only letting yourself be open to surveillance.
If you think that is bad, wait until they release Chrome OS. It's fast as blazes, admittedly, but I'm betting on some pretty scary shit under-the-hood.
skyver
06-09-2010, 02:31 PM
^^^ wow that's creepy that they can access your email account
What's the point in having passwords if these people can just log on and snoop around anyway?
There's no privacy online
Like how there are whistle blowers in the covering all kinds of conspiracies & evil, I wish there was the same when it came to the internet, as in ex-google employees who reveal the true agenda (not just google, all of them).
google is the least of your worries, now it seems talk talk are spying on us, it wouldn't surprise me if other ISP's are doing the same.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11213488