The new Pixel 6 series arrived not without any issue. The problems that surfaced are not really major but some phone owners are getting annoyed because of privacy leaks after mail-in repairs. A Pixel 5a phone owner once sent her phone for repair. Unfortunately, some hacked her device–allegedly. This is not new as a similar event was reported to have happened. Private photos and data are said to have been leaked after the repair was made by Google.
Game designer Jane McGonigal shared her experience over on Twitter. Jane said she sent her phone to the company for repair. She then advised others not to send their devices in for repair if they don’t want to lose important information not even for warranty replacement or repair.
The source shared that someone was trying to log into her gmail, photos, backup email, dropbox, and Google Drive. She could see the activity logs including opening her selfies. She speculated the hacker was trying finding nudes since because photos of her wearing sports bras, bathing suits, and form-fitting dresses were opened. Photos after her stitches after a surgery were opened. She said security notifications were deleted in her backup email accounts.
Google’s Response
A Google representative said the company is doing an investigation on the issue. But it seems now it’s over as Google already said: “After a thorough investigation, we can say with confidence that the issue impacting the user was not related to the device RMA [Return Merchandise Authorization]. We have worked closely with the user to better understand what occurred and how best to secure the account going forward.”
Her complaint won’t be wasted as Google officially sent assistance. She said that “Pixel Support and Google Security have been extremely helpful today I am happy to report.” Google has committed to “sending security instructions for people who cannot factory reset their phones due to phone damage.”
Google wants to make things better so it’s sharing possible and safe options to avail of official service. Google is offering mail-in or service through local authorized providers in different countries. In the United States, Google teamed up with uBreakiFix for repairs.
