For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
1–10 of 47 posts
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#2It's hard to take these seriously when they equate digital ransom with actual kidnapping. Clickbait headline if I ever saw one.
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#3I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5 days. This was 6 days ago. No response. FBI can't do anything either. Its so disturbing that there is absolute nothing you can do to reach Google once this happens. It could happen on anyone's cell phone as well, how many fortune 500 companies have higher up employees with cell phones and gmail accounts? Imagine in the future trusting google with a self driving car and home automation -- imagine getting locked out of your house or hijacked in a self driving car and having nobody to call. If anybody here knows somebody at google who can reach the group that handles Gmail security, please contact this account so I can give you his info.
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#4I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5…
Hopefully the next step is going to be switching from Google to a different provider.
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#5I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5…
I'm sorry if this sounds like me being a jerk - that's not my goal. I just want to point out cold hard facts.
> but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account
I can't stress this enough but please enable OTP on your accounts. Facebook, gmail, and even your Windows system if you are paranoid enough. Yeah it adds some hassle - but the value of increased security far outweighs the hassle. Also backup the OTP codes somewhere.
> Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number
If they are in the US please tell us the name of the provider so we know not to ever use them. This isn't the first this kind of attack has happened [1] (shame on you DigitalOcean). I use Gandi and they state in their documentation that they will not reset it if you ask them [2].
> Its so disturbing that there is absolute nothing you can do to reach Google once this happens.
It's a free service - what do you expect? I've heard this story many many times. Yes - google makes billions in profits and could in theory hire someone to handle gmail issues. But, they don't and it makes sense from a business point of view (why spend money on a guy who will support a service that doesn't make money?).
> It could happen on anyone's cell phone as well, how many fortune 500 companies have higher up employees with cell phones and gmail accounts?
If a Fortune 500 company uses gmail they would buy the google apps for work. If they buy google apps for work they get an 800 number to call if they have problems (and most likely a dedicated account rep because they are probably buying 1000s of accounts).
> Imagine in the future trusting google with a self driving car and home automation
Again - you would be giving money to google. And in return you will get support. I'm not saying Google is perfect but if self driving cars become a thing I'm sure (hope) there will be an 800 number you can call when your car becomes sentient.
[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9596258
[2] - https://wiki.gandi.net/en/hosting/gandi-expert/change-root-p...
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#6I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5…
Hopefully the next step is going to be switching from Google to a different provider.
Yeah thats one way to address the issue (or even using multiple emails), but you know what's even better than that?
Having competent customer support, that would be able to address situations like this. Esp. with the amount of people that are using these home automation services with "cloud" support, its only going to get worse the more integrated these services become.
My friend has had a similar situation with the good ol Yahoo eMail service, and after being on call waiting for 4hours, they told him they cannot help him, then hung up.
I also had a similar service, with my STEAM account, I emailed Valve, and within 45 min the account was restored.
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#7I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5…
I'm sorry if this sounds like me being a jerk - that's not my goal. I just want to point out cold hard facts. > but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account I can't stress this enough but please enable OTP on your accounts. Facebook, gmail, and even your Windows system if you are paranoid enough. Yeah it adds some hassle - but the value of increased security far outweighs the hassle. Also backu…
The cellphone provider was sprint. My friend is a paid customer of Google Apps. In part of the process he called called Google Apps, and they immediately disabled his Apps account but -- but they couldn't or wouldn't do anything else including helping him escalate to the right people -- They said they did not know who to contact. Eventually after he called back several times, he got a manager/supervisor who was able to create a ticket. He called back the next day and the ticket was deleted!
Meanwhile the scammer is making threats to his family and pretending to be him send out emergency BTC loan requests and resetting bank passwords. He could be SWAT'd at any moment.
Apparently Google executives are in the mindset that it isn't cost effective for them to provide even the most minimalist crisis support -- a trivial 5 minute look at the account and seeing the ransom artist texting him (through his own gmail) would at least justify an account hold. Google couldn't be bothered-- even at a record 66 billion dollar profit to help him. Why? Because they can't make a profit helping him. Or maybe its that and they are still in the 2003 "beta" mindset. It truly is a real life THX 1138 nightmare for him.
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#8It's hard to take these seriously when they equate digital ransom with actual kidnapping. Clickbait headline if I ever saw one.
There's nothing wrong with the headline, and the article doesn't mention kidnapping. The comparison it does make is a reasonable one: "a modern day version of a mob shakedown".
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry if this sounds like me being a jerk - that's not my goal. I just want to point out cold hard facts. > but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account I can't stress this enough but please enable OTP on your accounts. Facebook, gmail, and even your Windows system if you are paranoid enough. Yeah it adds some hassle - but the value of increased security far outweighs the hassle. Also backu…
The cellphone provider was sprint. My friend is a paid customer of Google Apps. In part of the process he called called Google Apps, and they immediately disabled his Apps account but -- but they couldn't or wouldn't do anything else including helping him escalate to the right people -- They said they did not know who to contact. Eventually after he called back several times, he got a manager/supervisor who was able…
He is a paying customer... wow unbelievable.
Why can the police/FBI help in this case, given all the threads and demands? Were they contacted and informed of the situation?
Re: For Ransom, Bitcoin Replaces the Bag of Bills
#10I know this is not 100% specific to this article, but this is happening right now to a friend of mine's gmail account. Scammer was able to social engineer the cell phone company to forward his number, then did a password reset, and locked him out of his account. 20BTC Ransom. He followed every single google customer service link/resource he could find and tried to reset link, which said they would contact him in 3-5…
Hopefully the next step is going to be switching from Google to a different provider.
Do you know any good alternative? I was thinking about self hosting and just use google as a relay.