Pixel mail-in repair service in the U.S. reportedly compromised accounts

Pixel mail-in repair service in the U.S. reportedly compromised accounts, photos

A game designer says intruders accessed her Google services, Dropbox and an electronic mail account afterward she mailed in her telephone for repair

It looks like the Pixel's mail service-in service might exist a scrap sketchy in the Usa.

On Twitter, game designer Jane McGonigal stated that several of her accounts were compromised after she mailed in her Pixel 5a to Google for service. McGonigal says the intruders accessed her Google services, Dropbox and an electronic mail business relationship, while activity logs point that the hackers accessed photos in an attempt to "notice nudes."

"The photos they opened were of me in bathing suits, sports bras, form-fitting dresses, and of stitches after surgery," McGonigal writes. "They deleted Google security notifications in my backup email accounts."

Yeah, don't send your Google phone in for warranty repair/replacement. As has happened with others, last dark someone used it to log into my gmail, Drive, photos backup email account, dropbox, and I can encounter from activity logs they opened a agglomeration of selfies hoping to find nudes

— Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) Dec 4, 2021

In June, McGonigal sent her broken phone to a Pixel repair centre in Texas, and Google subsequently told her that it never received the phone. Post-obit this, she was charged for a replacement device. Still, McGonigal said that FedEx tracking details indicated that the telephone had arrived at the facility. Subsequently, the "missing" telephone was used for 2-gene hallmark checks to access her accounts.

McGonigal says this has happened to others as well and offers more detail in several follow-up tweets.

In a statement toThe Verge,a Google spokesperson said, "nosotros are investigating this merits." At this moment, it'due south unclear who exactly has the telephone or whether information technology was intercepted during transit or at Google's repair facility.

In a more recent December 6th tweet, McGonigal said "Pixel Support and Google Security have been extremely helpful," adding that in that location will now be "added security instructions for people who cannot factory reset their phones due to telephone damage."

In the U.S., Google offers mail-in repair services in and out of warranty. If you don't desire to mail in your device, you tin head to a uBreakiFix instead. In Canada, the repair arrangement works a little differently; Google Support pages state that mail-in services here are handled exclusively by uBreakiFix.

Source: @avantgame Via: The Verge