Are all my photos about to be deleted???

MontyStrikesAgain · 2025-08-19T15:55:19+00:00

Please could someone clever help advise me. I've received an email telling me my cloud storage is full and that ALL my photos WILL BE DELETED FROM MY CLOUD ACCOUNT TODAY!! The email says they've called me 3 times today and will delete my pictures. I'm really panicking and I don't know what to do. I really adore looking through my photos, they mean so much to me. I've got hundreds of beautiful photos of my grandchildren and my lovely daughter on my cloud. I will be heartbroken. Can anyone advise me? It says they will all be deleted today. I've included screen shots of the email. I hope you can see what it says ok, I haven't done a screenshot on mumsnet before. Thank you to anyone who can help me! I've scribbled out my email address.

AllotmentTime · 19/08/2025 19:14

Yes, in retrospect, the elderly lady who would fall for this scam but yet was tech savvy enough to edit and upload her screenshots, should have been the giveaway. 🤦‍♀️ mea culpa!

Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:56

PickAChew · 19/08/2025 18:20

They don't want your photos, they want your payment details so they can nick your money.

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I see that now.
It was very difficult for me to tell the difference in such an email. But a few people have taught me how to spot signs that it is not real. It certainly frightened me when I read it though!

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Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:53

PurveyorP · 19/08/2025 18:17

Because most people are decent and want to help. The OP’s comments were suspect, but not enough to be super obvious.

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Most people on here have been very helpful indeed and have helped me. I have been very grateful for these people!

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Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:52

Nourishinghandcream · 19/08/2025 18:17

I get these messages all the time (although they mainly go straight into my spam folder).
Sussed it was a scam straight away as I don't have Cloud storage of any kind, all photos are stored on my PC and a separate hard drive.😁

I have not done this type of protection for my photos. I can see now from the people who are saying the same as you, that this is something I need to do! Thank you.

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Thattimeofthenight · 19/08/2025 18:45

PurveyorP · 19/08/2025 18:17

Because most people are decent and want to help. The OP’s comments were suspect, but not enough to be super obvious.

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Maybe I spend too much time on here because I think it was blindingly obvious. I’ve reported so many posts that have then been pulled when no one has called the poster out for trolling.

I am a bit of a wind-up merchant myself though so maybe I can just spot the same nonsense in others.

IOSTT · 19/08/2025 18:31

LongDistanceClara44 · 19/08/2025 18:09

I think there's definitely worse wind up posts out there than this one. I read the posts in the voice of Mrs Doubtfire and did actually learn some stuff from some of the replies. So I think more than 1/10

lol me too 😂

IOSTT · 19/08/2025 18:30

Mrs Doubtfire? Is that you?

PickAChew · 19/08/2025 18:20

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:01

Oh thank you girls. Bless you for answering me so quickly.
is it really a scam.
Why is someone trying to scam my photos?
I don't know who my cloud storage is with, it's just on my phone. The nice young lad in the mobile shop set it up for me.

They don't want your photos, they want your payment details so they can nick your money.

Silvers11 · 19/08/2025 18:18

KittytheHare · 19/08/2025 17:30

@MontyStrikesAgain you really aren’t as funny as you imagine you are. 1/10 ‘Must try harder’

YUP!! 😂

Kellywiththelegs · 19/08/2025 18:18

LongDistanceClara44 · 19/08/2025 18:09

I think there's definitely worse wind up posts out there than this one. I read the posts in the voice of Mrs Doubtfire and did actually learn some stuff from some of the replies. So I think more than 1/10

Yes I hope it doesn’t get deleted as the advice on here could really help less tech savvy posters.

PurveyorP · 19/08/2025 18:17

Thattimeofthenight · 19/08/2025 17:57

Just fannying about. I could see it was a troll from the first post and genuinely baffled at how many people kept answering the OP and the subsequent posts. I can smell these a mile off and have reported so many.

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Because most people are decent and want to help. The OP’s comments were suspect, but not enough to be super obvious.

Nourishinghandcream · 19/08/2025 18:17

I get these messages all the time (although they mainly go straight into my spam folder).
Sussed it was a scam straight away as I don't have Cloud storage of any kind, all photos are stored on my PC and a separate hard drive.😁

Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:17

ilovesooty · 19/08/2025 18:13

Get her to explain how your phone works and give you some information about basic internet safety. I'm old, don't have helpful children and am fully aware of scams like this.

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I will do. Thank you.

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Jumpeduppantry · 19/08/2025 18:16

I saw something on TV about scam baiters that use a pretty convincing AI elderly dotty lady on phone calls to scammers…..

Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:16

ilovesooty · 19/08/2025 18:14

And yes, I'm replying in good faith because there are people who are this clueless.

Thank you. I am very grateful indeed for your faith.
I am so relieved! I didn't know what to do.

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Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:15

lnks · 19/08/2025 17:53

If this isn’t genuine, I don’t understand what the OP gets from it?

I have been given such helpful advice. I was so worried. Lots of lovely people have replied to reassure me and showed me how to recognise this as a trick. And others have told me what I need to do to make my pictures safer, things I would never have thought to do, which I am very grateful for!
I can't ask my daughter as she is abroad.

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ilovesooty · 19/08/2025 18:14

And yes, I'm replying in good faith because there are people who are this clueless.

ilovesooty · 19/08/2025 18:13

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:09

Thank you for this, I will ask my daughter to help me. Thank you!

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Get her to explain how your phone works and give you some information about basic internet safety. I'm old, don't have helpful children and am fully aware of scams like this.

NinePoppadomsAndASaagAloo · 19/08/2025 18:13

LongDistanceClara44 · 19/08/2025 18:09

I think there's definitely worse wind up posts out there than this one. I read the posts in the voice of Mrs Doubtfire and did actually learn some stuff from some of the replies. So I think more than 1/10

In retrospect I can see it now but my instinct is always to help if I can. And if someone else learnt something then it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Thattimeofthenight · 19/08/2025 18:09

LongDistanceClara44 · 19/08/2025 18:09

I think there's definitely worse wind up posts out there than this one. I read the posts in the voice of Mrs Doubtfire and did actually learn some stuff from some of the replies. So I think more than 1/10

There are better ones for sure. I also read it like Mrs Doubtfire.

Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:09

Tomikka · 19/08/2025 17:51

These addresses should / could help you:

But don’t click on links from random people, type them in yourself / search them etc

e.g. search for “manage my Samsung cloud”, “manage my Google storage” etc

support.samsungcloud.com

one.google.com/storage
photos.google.com

Thank you for this, I will ask my daughter to help me. Thank you!

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LongDistanceClara44 · 19/08/2025 18:09

I think there's definitely worse wind up posts out there than this one. I read the posts in the voice of Mrs Doubtfire and did actually learn some stuff from some of the replies. So I think more than 1/10

Original poster

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 18:08

MigGril · 19/08/2025 17:45

It maybe a scam, but it is really important for you to have multiple backups of things you really want to keep. For example we have photo storage on our main computer and a backup drive. If you don't have a computer you can get large storage drives which plug into phones that you could backup your photos onto.

From past experience it's never a good idea to just have one copy of digital files that are important.

For example companies always have 3 backups of data. If you accidentally deleted something at work they can normally restore it for you.

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This is ever so helpful. I must confess to not ever thinking about saving my pictures elsewhere but I will show your message to my daughter, because I have not done any of the things you so helpfully suggest.
My pictures are extremely precious, I would be devastated to lose them. My daughter also sends me many pictures.
I have always wondered about how safe it is to have all these pictures stored on a cloud, I don't fully understand how it works.
I have deleted the email I received now.

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Thattimeofthenight · 19/08/2025 18:05

PumpkinPieAlibi · 19/08/2025 18:03

Is this some sort of parody of an older dotty woman bumbling about?

It's sad as genuine posters give of their time trying to respond and assist.

I think people need to tune up their bullshit detectors too though

PumpkinPieAlibi · 19/08/2025 18:03

Is this some sort of parody of an older dotty woman bumbling about?

It's sad as genuine posters give of their time trying to respond and assist.