DIGITAL LIFE

User complains that her personal data was stolen while transferring her smartphone for assistance

Game designer and author of several books Jane McGonigal spoke of an attempt to steal personal data from a Google Pixel 5A phone that was mailed in for warranty repair. The day before, she shared the details of the incident on Twitter and advised readers not to mail their devices in for warranty repairs.

In October, Ms. McGonigal sent the defective phone to Pixel's Texas Official Service Center. Google said the device was not received at the specified address, although it was still delivered to the company via FedEx tracking. Last Friday, the customer was reimbursed for money for the gadget and just hours later, an unknown person used it. the “lost” phone to go through two-step authorization and log into multiple McGonigal accounts, including Dropbox, Gmail, and Google Drive.

The woman claims that the aggressor looked at pictures of her in a bathing suit, sports bra, tight dress, and was even interested in pictures of scars after surgery. Additionally, security alerts have been removed from backup email addresses. Google reacted to the incident and Alex Moriconi, a spokesman for the company, said: "We are investigating the complaint." It is not yet known at what stage the device was stolen: in the shop or in transit. Google strongly recommends that all data on devices be backed up and completely erased before sending them out for repair, but McGonigal says this isn't always possible due to the nature of the malfunction.

AVnews