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Emails and Contacts Deleted

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Gmail thought it was a great idea to wipe out my Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts, Trash, and my contacts. However, I still have Spam. Anybody who also contacts me through Email.... please send me one!
 
I remember reading an article in the past that this had happened to a whole slew of gmailers. Googlel discovered the glitch and performed a restoration. You may want to contact them about this, they should be able to get everything back. Googlel holds on to your info forever!
 
Make sure someone hasn't hacked your password. When logged into Gmail scroll the the bottom of the page and you'll see a line "Last account activity" and click on the "Details" link next to it. It should show you the last dozen or so times the account was accessed and from what IP address.

If messages are deleted they are held in the trashcan for 30 days unless manually cleared.

It might be a good idea to change your password anyway.
 
Never had a problem with google. Yes the core business of that company is advertisement and that is why they hold on to your info ( to deliver personalized ads ) but so is facebook and other search engines and look where it's gotten them.

Just like GregNY said write them an email, they should be able to sort it out.

P.S. Just checked my accounteverything seems intact.
 
Jim,

This happened to some Gmail users back in February. There is some information on the issue on THIS page, including an email address for contacting them. I suspect that they may be able to restore the lost data.
 
Make sure someone hasn't hacked your password. When logged into Gmail scroll the the bottom of the page and you'll see a line "Last account activity" and click on the "Details" link next to it. It should show you the last dozen or so times the account was accessed and from what IP address.

If messages are deleted they are held in the trashcan for 30 days unless manually cleared.

It might be a good idea to change your password anyway.

Yeah one time gmail said that someone from Canada logged into my account and i need to change my password and of course i sure did.
 
Actually, a week before this happened, Gmail said that it thinks there was suspicious activity and suggested I change my password. So I did. Now I have the problem! Go figure.

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------

This is what I got when I went to Google Help:

Google Help to me

show details 2:34 PM (18 hours ago)

bkc56 has posted an answer to the question "Between Saturday & Sunday (6/4 & 6/5), somehow, Emails (Inbox,Sent, Drafts, and Trash) were wiped out. So were all of my":

It's possible that your account was compromised and
everything deleted. If so, you need to change your password and verify
all your other security and account settings (see http://knol.google.com/k/the-c-man/...ywla4ku/7?pli=1#When_you_reclaim_Your_Account
and see the links below about possible recovery of the lost e-mail).

It's
also possible you have forwarding, filters, or POP/IMAP enabled and
operating on your messages. It could even be confusion on the
difference between labels and folders.

Have you looked in All Mail and Trash for the missing information? Have you used Search to try and find it?

Unfortunately, messages permanently deleted from Trash or Spam can not be recovered. Sorry.

This
is why some people do their own backups of their Gmail accounts. That
way if the account is compromised and everything deleted they have a way
to recover their e-mail history and contacts.
 
Hmm... time to backup my Gmail me thinks!
 
Hey Jim,
I'm sorry but I would not settle there. I absolutely positively in no way believe that statement "Unfortunately, messages permanently deleted from Trash or Spam can not be recovered. Sorry." Google holds on to everything. I would try to get on the phone with someone with a heartbeat and go from there....

And a week prior they suspected something to be going on but didnt recommend you back up everything? I think I'd play this ticket to get them to try a little harder at a restoration

Also, if this happened after suspicious activity and after you changed your password because of it, I'd be concerned with possible PC infection, ie a keylogger, that could be recording changes you make in passwords. Just a word of caution, be careful, and run a few scans just to double check
 
  • #10
Actually, a week before this happened, Gmail said that it thinks there was suspicious activity and suggested I change my password. So I did. Now I have the problem! Go figure.

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------

This is what I got when I went to Google Help:

Google Help to me

show details 2:34 PM (18 hours ago)

bkc56 has posted an answer to the question "Between Saturday & Sunday (6/4 & 6/5), somehow, Emails (Inbox,Sent, Drafts, and Trash) were wiped out. So were all of my":

It's possible that your account was compromised and
everything deleted. If so, you need to change your password and verify
all your other security and account settings (see http://knol.google.com/k/the-c-man/...ywla4ku/7?pli=1#When_you_reclaim_Your_Account
and see the links below about possible recovery of the lost e-mail).

It's
also possible you have forwarding, filters, or POP/IMAP enabled and
operating on your messages. It could even be confusion on the
difference between labels and folders.

Have you looked in All Mail and Trash for the missing information? Have you used Search to try and find it?

Unfortunately, messages permanently deleted from Trash or Spam can not be recovered. Sorry.

This
is why some people do their own backups of their Gmail accounts. That
way if the account is compromised and everything deleted they have a way
to recover their e-mail history and contacts.

I have like 4 or 5 back up e-mails so mine can't or really go away. :)
 
  • #11
Hey Jim,
I'm sorry but I would not settle there. I absolutely positively in no way believe that statement "Unfortunately, messages permanently deleted from Trash or Spam can not be recovered. Sorry." Google holds on to everything. I would try to get on the phone with someone with a heartbeat and go from there....

And a week prior they suspected something to be going on but didnt recommend you back up everything? I think I'd play this ticket to get them to try a little harder at a restoration

Also, if this happened after suspicious activity and after you changed your password because of it, I'd be concerned with possible PC infection, ie a keylogger, that could be recording changes you make in passwords. Just a word of caution, be careful, and run a few scans just to double check

I'm following up on this. I'm wondering if the request to change my password was bogus.
 
  • #12
I'm following up on this. I'm wondering if the request to change my password was bogus.
hmm... sound like a scam to me. Did the email asking you to change your password contain a link to login page?
 
  • #13
I didn't even think of that password change being a scam but unfortunately I think you're on to something there...

There is a Resotration of Contacts but unfortunately apparently that didnt work for you :-/
 
Last edited:
  • #14
So what do I do with it? Change it back?
 
  • #15
I would think create a new password again just to be safe and sure
 
  • #16
Ive had those emails from gmail, paypal, facebook etc. Always look at the link given, and its usually a weird link or has a funny file type to it. If your not sure, dont click the link, but actually go to your address bar and type in the site and do it manually, never follow those links.

My wife did this once and took forever to get rid of the virus that was placed on our computer. Live and learn.
 
  • #17
I've never had a genuine 'reset your password' email. I used to frequently get them purporting to be from banks and suspect that I still get them but they don't get past the spam filter. Many of them are supposedly from organisations that I don't even have accounts with! The links often look genuine, but in reality they are spoofed to look like they are taking you to the genuine site but they actually take you to a different one. This site will be spoofed too to look like the genuine login page. Of course, as soon as you have typed in the details they have all they need to get into you account.
 
  • #18
Today, when I logged in, I saw a message in red that said that someone from Nigeria was trying to access my account. I was going to copy the message but it disappeared. I really don't know what's going on but I do have all my contacts and can get to them if I attempt to "compose mail". If I type a letter in the address field, the contacts that have that letter appear as a prompt help. However, if I just go to the Contacts folder, there's nothing there but me, and a bunch of 'a's. What has been lost, really, were all the Emails in my Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts, Spam, and Trash. What's truly lost of importance are the items I had in my Drafts folder, which I'll have to rebuild.

---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 AM ----------

I asked the Gmail Help forum dude about the Nigeria message (if it's real) and asked if I should change the password yet again. I'm awaiting the response. Thanks for all your input, BTW!
 
  • #19
Change that password! Keep em guessing!
 
  • #20
Go into 'Mail Settings'>'Accounts and Import' tab and check that there is not an unrecognised email address in the 'Grant access to your account:'. After that, whilst still in 'Accounts and Import' tab click on 'Change password recovery options' and check that the Recovery email and SMS (if used) details are yours. Basically, if your account has been hacked then they might have changed the recovery settings so that everytime you change the password they just need to request a password recovery and it will be sent to the address specified in the recovery settings. After doing this then change your password.
 
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