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I had these people call me the other day. I got a text message alerting me of a potential Google account security issue they had blocked and they I should expec

I had these people call me the other day. I got a text message alerting me of a potential Google account security issue they had blocked and they I should expect a call. I also got one of those emails and an automated phone call. The automated phone call had me dial 1 if I wanted a call back from support to help recover my account. I got a call from a very professional sounding woman assuring me she was with Google and they had discovered some potentially fraudulent activity with my Google account in Frankfurt. They said they had locked down my account to protect it but they would walk me through recovering it. I knew this was impossible, because the Google account in question doesn't have passwords. It has a couple of passkeys which are all physical hardware tokens in my home. But I wanted to see how pushy they would get. Turned into a half hour phone call with me playing dumb (was watching my kid's sports practice, nothing to do for a half hour but cheer him on). Eventually when I was done with it I let them know I was in the process of filing the report with the federal cybercrime department. Immediately hung up from that.

baxtr 2y ago
Frankfurt of all places!
- ffsm8 2y ago
  Frankfurt is actually notorious in Germany for their issues with drugs. Going outta the train station you can see ppl passed out with literal needles in their arms, taking a shit in public view etc Doesn't really transfer to cyber crime, but it's definitely one of the more "criminal" places in Germany. Still super tame compared to actual slums etc though
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    The last time I was in Frankfurt was maybe 20 years ago. I suppose things have declined quite a bit since then.
  - locallost 2y ago
    Notorious on social media perhaps. I am yet to see someone in Frankfurt passed out with a needle in their arm. I've been to Frankfurt several times in the last years -- slept once in a hotel near the train station, spent a couple hours until 2-3am at and around the train station because of a missed train, spent a lot of time waiting for my next train connection etc.
- odiroot 2y ago
  They called from Bahnhof Viertel ;)
thebruce87m 2y ago
> I knew this was impossible, because… There’s an easier tell. It’s impossible because you can’t to get Google to help you at all about any account issues, never mind them being as proactive as to call you. In other words if Google call you, it’s not Google. It’s slightly depressing that there are probably more fake Google support staff than real ones.
- AlienRobot 2y ago
  If it weren't for the routine ex-Googler postmortem blog post shared on HN I'd think Google doesn't even have human employees. The greatest mystery of my life is what is a "Google Product Expert" on their community forums whom I assume: 1. isn't an employee speaking as the company. 2. is someone given the title by the company. 3. spends a lot of time answering questions despite not being paid for it. 4. can contact Google employees somehow. The only perks for this that Google lists is that you can join a secret club of Google Product Experts. It feels like gig economy applied to customer support.
  - nox101 2y ago
    several huge companies do this. here's one https://discussions.apple.com https://discussions.apple.com so frustrating
    - rawgabbit 2y ago
      But if you have a problem and you need to show that you own appleid xxxx@xxx.com, can’t you go to an Apple Store and they will help you? I believe the frustration with Google is that there is not an actual human the regular person can talk to.
      - nox101 2y ago
        I don't live within 200 miles of a apple store
    - lotsofpulp 2y ago
ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
> I got a call from a very professional sounding woman That's usually the tell, right there. Legit support operations tend to sound unprofessional as hell. Heavy accents, scratchy lines, scripts referencing the wrong OS, etc.
- mavamaarten 2y ago
  Yeah, hah, it is funny that "Google offering phone support" is so unthinkable to me that it's a red flag for a scam.
  - vel0city 2y ago
    Yeah, that was also another big red flag for me. I do have paid services on other Google accounts and have dealt with their support before, but the account they were trying to break into was an ancient one I made as a teenager and don't use for much of anything anymore. If Google Support were to call me about anything (unfathomably unlikely, and never about a security issue like this), it wouldn't be from a free account that has never given Google a dime. I have received calls from Google associates before. Almost always some account manager looking to find yet another product to sell me. Never proactively to any kind of account issue.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  I've gotten real support calls where the audio was so bad it was hard to understand anything they said. And/Or the standby music fidelity was so awful it's like pounding a spike in my ears. (Or maybe that's intentional so I hang up and don't bother with them.) You'd think they'd have equipment newer than the 1960's.
- foobarchu 2y ago
  Depends heavily on the company. Fidelity, for example, has super friendly, local sounding support employees. They will sometimes call you directly, too, for things like "checking in on your retirement goals". If someone called sounding professional, it would not be a tell that it isn't actually fidelity. Plus, most of the weird "customer support" scams I've gotten in the past are people with thick accents on a garbage connection.
throwaway8754aw 2y ago
[dead]
m463 2y ago
I get lots of helpful emails from my mail administrator telling me I have some sort of problem I need to log in/revalidate/release pending messages etc. Urgently! (I run my own mail server and I am the admin)
- semking 2y ago
  Sounds as urgent as legit :)
onemoresoop 2y ago
You should have recorded the whole thing
pyrale 2y ago
> I got a call from a very professional sounding woman assuring me she was with Google A customer support person from google? Scamers really tell the craziest stories.

baxtr 2y ago

Frankfurt of all places!

ffsm8 2y ago
Frankfurt is actually notorious in Germany for their issues with drugs. Going outta the train station you can see ppl passed out with literal needles in their arms, taking a shit in public view etc Doesn't really transfer to cyber crime, but it's definitely one of the more "criminal" places in Germany. Still super tame compared to actual slums etc though
- WalterBright 2y ago
  The last time I was in Frankfurt was maybe 20 years ago. I suppose things have declined quite a bit since then.
- locallost 2y ago
  Notorious on social media perhaps. I am yet to see someone in Frankfurt passed out with a needle in their arm. I've been to Frankfurt several times in the last years -- slept once in a hotel near the train station, spent a couple hours until 2-3am at and around the train station because of a missed train, spent a lot of time waiting for my next train connection etc.
odiroot 2y ago
They called from Bahnhof Viertel ;)

thebruce87m 2y ago

> I knew this was impossible, because… There’s an easier tell. It’s impossible because you can’t to get Google to help you at all about any account issues, never mind them being as proactive as to call you. In other words if Google call you, it’s not Google. It’s slightly depressing that there are probably more fake Google support staff than real ones.

AlienRobot 2y ago
If it weren't for the routine ex-Googler postmortem blog post shared on HN I'd think Google doesn't even have human employees. The greatest mystery of my life is what is a "Google Product Expert" on their community forums whom I assume: 1. isn't an employee speaking as the company. 2. is someone given the title by the company. 3. spends a lot of time answering questions despite not being paid for it. 4. can contact Google employees somehow. The only perks for this that Google lists is that you can join a secret club of Google Product Experts. It feels like gig economy applied to customer support.
- nox101 2y ago
  several huge companies do this. here's one https://discussions.apple.com https://discussions.apple.com so frustrating
  - rawgabbit 2y ago
    But if you have a problem and you need to show that you own appleid xxxx@xxx.com, can’t you go to an Apple Store and they will help you? I believe the frustration with Google is that there is not an actual human the regular person can talk to.
    - nox101 2y ago
      I don't live within 200 miles of a apple store
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago

> I got a call from a very professional sounding woman That's usually the tell, right there. Legit support operations tend to sound unprofessional as hell. Heavy accents, scratchy lines, scripts referencing the wrong OS, etc.

mavamaarten 2y ago
Yeah, hah, it is funny that "Google offering phone support" is so unthinkable to me that it's a red flag for a scam.
- vel0city 2y ago
  Yeah, that was also another big red flag for me. I do have paid services on other Google accounts and have dealt with their support before, but the account they were trying to break into was an ancient one I made as a teenager and don't use for much of anything anymore. If Google Support were to call me about anything (unfathomably unlikely, and never about a security issue like this), it wouldn't be from a free account that has never given Google a dime. I have received calls from Google associates before. Almost always some account manager looking to find yet another product to sell me. Never proactively to any kind of account issue.
WalterBright 2y ago
I've gotten real support calls where the audio was so bad it was hard to understand anything they said. And/Or the standby music fidelity was so awful it's like pounding a spike in my ears. (Or maybe that's intentional so I hang up and don't bother with them.) You'd think they'd have equipment newer than the 1960's.
foobarchu 2y ago
Depends heavily on the company. Fidelity, for example, has super friendly, local sounding support employees. They will sometimes call you directly, too, for things like "checking in on your retirement goals". If someone called sounding professional, it would not be a tell that it isn't actually fidelity. Plus, most of the weird "customer support" scams I've gotten in the past are people with thick accents on a garbage connection.

throwaway8754aw 2y ago

[dead]

m463 2y ago

I get lots of helpful emails from my mail administrator telling me I have some sort of problem I need to log in/revalidate/release pending messages etc. Urgently! (I run my own mail server and I am the admin)

semking 2y ago
Sounds as urgent as legit :)

onemoresoop 2y ago

You should have recorded the whole thing

pyrale 2y ago

> I got a call from a very professional sounding woman assuring me she was with Google A customer support person from google? Scamers really tell the craziest stories.