Is this a New Scammer or a Returning Scammer Part 2?
Did my previous attacker contact me again yesterday, or is this a new scammer?
Part 1: On June 2, 2026 I experienced a spear phishing attempt on my Gmail Account
Part 2: On Thursday July 23, 2026, I got another call, purportedly from Google, claiming that someone had changed some aspect of “my Gmail Account.”1 I assume this was designed to scare me into pressing “1” to continue down a rabbit hole.
I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t press anything, so I held on the line.
I was eventually told that someone from Google will call me to follow up. (They haven’t)
Is this a new scammer, or a returning scammer?
Previously:
Is this a continuation of the spear fishing attack I experienced in 2025 in which a caller claimed that I was targeted due to alleged “antisemitism.”1 I lost access to my old gmail account in that fishing attack, had to change all the accounts that were registered to that gmail address, and fended off a $500 withdrawal attempt from my bank account.
QUESTIONS:
Is this a new scammer, or a returning scammer?
What do you think is the first piece of information that the phishers are trying to obtain? My guess is that they are first trying to get my username. Once they have my email address, they can send me phishing emails.
Do you think it is advisable to play along with the phishing calls to find out more about them (without giving out information) or should I hang up right away?
Do you know of any way to trace these phone calls or are they easily spoofed?
Footnotes
The Phishers likely don’t know whether I have a Gmail account or not. If I do, they hope I will tell them my email address so they can more easily phish me.