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Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

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Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#81

Post by torben-friis »

traviswingo wrote: post #48
torben-friis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spam is getting horrible lately. I get all sorts of new techniques including: - using legitimate sites to bypass filters, like sending you a bill through a legitimate bill-creation site - pretending to be a tracking service for something you supposedly ordered, then over the course of days pretending the package got lost on the way and offering a discount code for the 'purchased' amount, expecting you to use it on th…

I can’t prove it, but it feels like the world recently decided that spamming/scamming is acceptable, so the number of spammers/scammers has increased dramatically. The number of spam calls, texts, emails, iCloud account unlock requests, etc I’ve received in the last year is insane.

I think part of it is AI allowing sophistication at scale, but there's also a generational factor. The techbro + business shark culture, influencers who manipulate people being role models, and so on.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#82

Post by thisislife2 »

torben-friis wrote: post #22
dvh wrote: post #4

Any Gmail person can tell me why Gmail is tolerating Gmail phishing emails that use Google's own services (e.g. https://storage.googleapis.com/savelinge/ ... ? More info here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46665414

Spam is getting horrible lately. I get all sorts of new techniques including: - using legitimate sites to bypass filters, like sending you a bill through a legitimate bill-creation site - pretending to be a tracking service for something you supposedly ordered, then over the course of days pretending the package got lost on the way and offering a discount code for the 'purchased' amount, expecting you to use it on th…

If I put on my tinfoil hat, it seems to be something deliberate, to push us all towards accepting hardware / software attestation and better "online id" stuff - "Don't you want to identify and stop the spammers and phishers?".

Email scanning and file scanning (on our computer) became acceptable when the level of spam and malware became intolerable. But it was at cost of our privacy. Today, Gmail scans all your mails and makes money from it. Both Windows and macOS have built-in anti-virus or malware scanners, and file indexers, and thus know all the applications and files in your system (which provides for more data on your profile with them). Now with both OSes, and even browsers like Chrome and Firefox, including AI, they will now use our own computers to not only collect our personal data, but even process it on our system and use it to build even better profiles to more profitably exploit us.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#83

Post by thisislife2 »

super256 wrote: post #8
8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #3

Recently helped a small business set up a Google Workspace account and we hit a wall during registration. Told the owners that if Google is already being difficult during signup, imagine being locked out later with client work on the line. Pulled up a few horror stories about Google lockouts to drive the point home. They ended up with another workspace solution.

With which workspace solution did they end up with?

No idea, but there's Zoho.com ...

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#84

Post by flumes_whims_ »

arjie wrote: post #58

I went through it to register just now. No QR code required. Same flow as it has been for years: 1. Personal/Child/Business 2. First/Last 3. Pick email 4. Date of Birth 5. Backup email / Skip 6. Password 7. Enter phone number 8. Confirm with 2FA code 9. Done. I just made the email testregistrationflow@gmail.com and have since forgotten the password. So that’s one burned. But feel free to try testregistrationflow1@gma…

Probably depends on how "trust worthy" you seem to Google for them to trigger this requirement. Things like using Linux, using Firefox, using a VPN, etc.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#86

Post by deltoidmaximus »

cute_boi wrote: post #62
goldenarm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding how easy simswap is in 2026, it's dangerously stupid from Google to rely on SMS

I don't know why verizon etc.. don't charge like $0.25 cents per sms. Then these provider would stop sending too many sms.

I recall reading that twitter was getting "scammed" because there were some phone services that cost money to receive texts (and possibly some of it was being passed on to the customer of said phone service) and they were getting spammed with phone verifications to get the payouts. I guess when twitter extorts your phone number out of you under false security pretenses and then uses it for advertising that's legit but if some one tries to a get a cut for themselves it's a big problem.

It occurs to me this "force you to send the sms" might be a way to avoid exactly this sort of thing.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#87

Post by mapt »

afavour wrote: post #75
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The decline had been happening long before AI hit mainstream. It's been a _lot_ of years that I've hesitated to answer calls from unknown numbers.

Yeah this feels like one of those cases where the term "AI" gets broadened out so far it becomes meaningless. This stuff is automated. The ability to automate spam calls (using the same form of APIs developers love, like Twilio) make it absurdly easy for one person to set up a spam machine. No AI required.

The lead generation was automated ten years ago ("Hello?"), but the actual scam conversation was not. Until recently, you still had to pay somebody in South Asia better than the prevailing wage of ~$1/hr to have these conversations, as well as set them up in an office with computers and managers, and bribe local police (call it $5/hr of fully burdened work product). If your success rate is ~1% and the average human portion of the scam lasts 12 minutes, you're getting 0.05 successes per hour, and you better be netting an average of $100 per successful scam (accounting for financial clearing issues / reversals!) or you're losing money on every hour worked.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#88

Post by sixhobbits »

guidedlight wrote: post #63
arjie wrote: post #58

I went through it to register just now. No QR code required. Same flow as it has been for years: 1. Personal/Child/Business 2. First/Last 3. Pick email 4. Date of Birth 5. Backup email / Skip 6. Password 7. Enter phone number 8. Confirm with 2FA code 9. Done. I just made the email testregistrationflow@gmail.com and have since forgotten the password. So that’s one burned. But feel free to try testregistrationflow1@gma…

They should probably go back to the original invite only flow they used when Gmail launched. Every account having the ability to invite an only small finite number of new accounts is one way to thwart scammers.

Not really, even "legit" marketing providers have massive automation rigs to warm email addresses, make them behave naturally and email each other in rings for a bit before using them for cold outreach.

So they'd just do this to farm invites if they needed

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#89

Post by q0uaur »

raincole wrote: post #77
Aurornis wrote: post #23

> Supposedly, using the QR code on the smartphone triggers an SMS sent from your phone to Google in order to verify your phone number. Does anyone have a better source of information than this one forum comment from someone who thinks scanning a QR code is enough to get your phone to send a text message? EDIT: It’s just an SMS URI. It doesn’t automatically send anything, just opens a text message for you to send. Thi…

But isn't phone number verification usually works like... Google sends you a SMS, not the other way around?

you see, in that case google has to pay, but flipping it like this makes the customers.. oh wait the product pay.

Re: Gmail registration now requires scanning a QR code and sending a text message

#90

Post by gedy »

bilalq wrote: post #79
8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #3

Recently helped a small business set up a Google Workspace account and we hit a wall during registration. Told the owners that if Google is already being difficult during signup, imagine being locked out later with client work on the line. Pulled up a few horror stories about Google lockouts to drive the point home. They ended up with another workspace solution.

When trying to upgrade from the Business Standard to Business Plus plan, Google will reduce your workspace storage from 2TB/user to 0 bytes for up to 24 hours while it upgrades you. These are actual quotes from support: > Upon checking, I see that the storage is showing as 0 bytes, because of the upgrade that has been done from business standard to business plus. Not to worry as this is very normal. > I understand yo…

Google Workspaces are just like Windows 11 on the network, and constantly running Windows update. You never know what changes, installed/uninstalled, or breaks.
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