How to verify a Google account?

EdFred

EdFred

Taxi to Parking
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White Chocolate
So my uncle has a gmail account. He logs in, the password is correct, and of course we get the wonderful data mining of google. "Give us your phone number so we can send you a text to verify it's you." Nope. Not giving google his phone number. We click "try another way" The only other options are let them know the month and year you created the account, (Who ****ing remembers that?), or let them data mine by giving them another email address. Click "try another way"

"Sorry we can't verify this account."

What's the work around?
 
When I was asked for my phone number, I opened up a new window, clicked on gmail, and it went straight to my account.
Then close the window asking for the phone number.

Thinking about a new email address to get away from Google.
 
Non Compos Mentis said:
When I was asked for my phone number, I opened up a new window, clicked on gmail, and it went straight to my account.
Then close the window asking for the phone number.

Thinking about a new email address to get away from Google.
Click to expand...

I strongly recommend Fastmail.com. With the paid version, you also get excellent CalDAV and CardDAV, among other features.

Rich
 
I ditched Hotmail because they insisted on getting my phone number. The only other option was to "verify" my account every 30 days with another email. I created another hotmail account to do this (which didn't need verification for some reason), but since my hotmail account was simply for spam and I only logged in every couple of months to clear it out it wasn't worth the effort.
 
If you don’t want to be the product then pay someone instead of using a free service.
 
If you give them a cell phone number, they can use it as a way to verify it's you, I believe it's called two step verification. Works great if you have to log into Gmail from public computers, and keeps your account from being hacked into.
 
Groundpounder said:
If you give them a cell phone number, they can use it as a way to verify it's you, I believe it's called two step verification. Works great if you have to log into Gmail from public computers, and keeps your account from being hacked into.
Click to expand...
Nope. Actually gave them my cell number which has nothing to do with my uncle's account and they sent me the verification code to my phone number anyway. I have an Android phone so they've already got the number. Might be the dumbest verification there is.
 
EdFred said:
Nope. Actually give them my cell number which has nothing to do with my uncle's account and they sent me the verification code to my phone number I have an Android phone so they've already got it anyway.
Click to expand...

So give them your uncle's cell number
 
Groundpounder said:
So give them your uncle's cell number
Click to expand...
he doesn't want google to have it. That email doesnt ID him at all. He has no secondary mail account tied to it, and has no cell number tied to it. I was able to verify it was "him" by putting in ANY cell phone number. It doesnt verify it against anything. I could have put in your cell number and it would have sent you the text verifying you were my uncle.
 
You missed what I was saying. Their verification doesn't actually verify anything.
 
Groundpounder said:
Did you try putting in his cell phone number?
Click to expand...

Bang.

Head.

Wall.

I put in MY cell number, and it "verified" that *I* was him. He has full access to his google account, because Google verified that a cell number, any cell number, existed. And my number is not tied to that account.
 
EdFred said:
Bang.

Head.

Wall.

I put in MY cell number, and it "verified" that *I* was him. He has full access to his google account, because Google verified that a cell number, any cell number, existed. And my number is not tied to that account.
Click to expand...

So did you verify his account? What is the issue?
 
I would recommend you lock down your google account by using the google authenticator app as your second authentication factor (if you don't want to use your phone).
 
SCCutler said:
...that the "verification" is illusory?
Click to expand...
Winnah!!!
nj-pilot said:
I would recommend you lock down your google account by using the google authenticator app as your second authentication factor (if you don't want to use your phone).
Click to expand...
He doesn't give a crap about it getting stolen or hacked. Uses it for buying stuff on craigslist and other things where his identity isn't important and no one needs to know who he is. He has pretty much a 0 online footprint.
 
Groundpounder said:
If you give them a cell phone number, they can use it as a way to verify it's you, I believe it's called two step verification. Works great if you have to log into Gmail from public computers, and keeps your account from being hacked into.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as long as you live in a city or suburb. In the boonies, maybe not so much.

They just want to mine more data. That's Google's core business now. Not search. Not advertising. Data mining.

Rich
 
It's like Foodtown. They don't print up paper coupons anymore (or if they do, they don't distribute them in any newspapers I read). The only way to get the coupon is to install their app.

They say it's to be "green," but that's ********. They email me the list of coupons every week, but they're just links to a Web app that would add them to my phone app, if I had it installed. They could just as easily email coupons with bar codes like many other companies I deal with and let the cashier scan the phone. But then they wouldn't be able to mine the phone for data. They would know what I bought, but nothing else.

Meh. If people don't give a **** about their own privacy, then I really don't care either. What I know is that more than half the businesses that I allowed to store my data have been breached. That's why they get as little of it as humanly possible now.

Rich
 
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