Investigate suspicious activity on your account (2024)

Important: If you were redirected to this page from the sign-in box, we've detected suspicious activity on your account.

Find out if your Google Account has been hacked

If you notice any of these signs, someone else may be using your Google Account.

Important: If you think someone else is signed in to your Google Account, change your password immediately for:

  • YourGoogle Account, if you didn’t change it already
  • Apps and sites:
    • That you use the same password you used for your Google Account
    • That contact you through your Google Account email address
    • Where you sign in with your Google Account email address
    • Where you saved passwords in your Google Account

You can then check for and remove any unfamiliar devices signed in to your account.

Suspicious account activity

Unfamiliar changes to critical security settings

Correct the setting immediately if you see unfamiliar changes to these settings:

  • Your recovery phone number.
  • Your recovery email address.
  • An alternate or contact email address.
  • The name on your Google Account.
  • Your security question.
    • Tip:Additional security questions are no longer available.
  • Apps with access to your account.
  • If this setting was turned on or off without your knowledge:
    • 2-Step Verification
    • Less secure app access
  • 2-Step Verification methods.
  • Location Sharing.

Unauthorized financial activity

Your financial activity might be suspicious if:

  • On Google Pay
    • You don’t recognize purchases: To request a refund,report unauthorized charges.
    • You don’t recognize one or more bank accounts, credit cards, debit cards, or gift cards:Remove a payment method you don't recognize.
  • On Google Play, you don’t recognize purchases: Report unauthorized charges.
  • On Google Chrome, payment info you don’t recognize is set up: Delete unfamiliar payment info.
  • On Google Ads, you notice unauthorized charges or ads: Ask the Google Ads team to review your account for unusual activity.
  • On Google AdSense, you notice that payments aren’t going to the correct bank account: Check your AdSense payment method.

Unusual activity notifications

Tip: To tell you about suspicious activity, we'll use your recovery phone number and email address.

We’ll inform you of unusual activity through:

  • A notification about an unusual sign-in or a new device on your account.
  • A notification that there was a change to your username, password, or other security settings,and you didn’t make the change.
  • A notification about some other activity you don’t recognize.
  • A red bar at the top of your screen that says, "We've detected suspicious activity in your account."
  • Your "Device activity and security events" page.

Suspicious activity in Google products you use

Gmail

Gmail settings

Correct the setting immediately if you see unfamiliar changes to:

  • Mail delegation: People with access to your Gmail
  • Automatic mail forwarding
  • Scheduled emails
  • Your name in Gmail
  • Automatic reply: Vacation responder
  • Address on outgoing mail
  • Blocked email addresses
  • Remote access to your Gmail: IMAPorPOP
  • Filters that manage your incoming mail
  • Labels that organize your incoming mail

Gmail activity

Your Gmail activity might be suspicious if:

  • You no longer receive emails.
  • Your friends say they got spam or unusual emails from you.
  • Your username has been changed.
  • Your emails were deleted from your inbox and aren’t found in "Trash". You can report missing emails and possibly recover them.
  • You find "Sent Emails" that you didn’t write.

YouTube

Your YouTube activity might be suspicious if:

  • YourYouTube channelhas videos you didn't upload, comments you didn't make, or unfamiliar changes to your:
    • Channel name
    • Profile photo
    • Descriptions
    • Email settings
    • Sent messages

Google Drive

Your Google Drive activity might be suspicious if:

  • You find Google Drive activity that you don’t recognize.
  • Files were deleted from your Drive without your knowledge. You can try to recover your files.

Google Photos

Your Google Photos activity might be suspicious if:

  • Your photo albums are shared without your permission.
  • Your photos are shared with a partner, and you didn’t add a partner account.

Blogger

Your Blogger activity might be suspicious if:

  • Posts you didn’t publish appear on your blog.
  • You get comments on posts you didn’t publish.
  • Your mail-to-Blogger address has changed, but you didn’t change it.
  • Your blog disappeared or was blocked.

Google Ads

Your Google Ads activity might be suspicious if you find unfamiliar:

  • Ads that point to unknown links or destinations
  • Increases in your ad spend
  • Changes to account owners, managers, or users

Need more help?

Try these next steps:

Post to the help community Get answers from community members

Protect Your Identity Online

Get step-by-step visual guides on the tools and practices that will help you protect your personal information with Google's Online Security Guidebook.

Investigate suspicious activity on your account (2024)
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