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Are all my photos about to be deleted???

85 replies

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 16:55

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.

Are all my photos about to be deleted???
Are all my photos about to be deleted???
OP posts:
RampantIvy · 19/08/2025 17:25

It is definitely a scam. I don't store any photos on the cloud and I get these emails as well.

CreationNat1on · 19/08/2025 17:25

Scam. I m getting those e mails too.... It's going on months. Now they are saying your payment failed, enter payment details again. Also a scam.

I never tried to pay, there was no payment failure. Just delete.

Tomikka · 19/08/2025 17:25

This particular one is a scam, as others have mentioned

Scammers are always after your money or your login details, taking the requested payment, your bank / card details to keep on charging until you cancel, and/or your account name/email/password to go through what they can find on your account (usually to get your bank details) and to retry those details on other sites etc as people reuse passwords

So make sure you have not clicked into anything, and to be extra safe consider changing your password / enable MFA multi factor authentication (MFA can be a nuisance when you need to keep confirming it is you, but that helps to avoid others getting in

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:22

HumanRightsAreHumanRights · 19/08/2025 17:17

I get this email fairly often.

I have zero photos stored in any online storage but I still get it.

It seems to do a countdown to when my photos will be deleted, then after a couple of days it starts up again.

I never open them, just hover my mouse over the email address which is always some random weird one then I block sender.

Ah so it's not just me then.
Ok then dear, thanks for your message.

OP posts:
Reeli · 19/08/2025 17:21

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:19

This is wonderfully helpful, thank you very much! I appreciate the pictures to aid my understanding of this.
Strangely, they don't seem to have an email address, it's most strange.
Who's behind this mean trick? How do they know who I am?

Lists of email addresses, phone numbers etc get sold and scammers just mass email them, it’s not targeted at you alone, you’re one of many type thing,

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:21

CleanShirt · 19/08/2025 17:14

They haven't called you because they don't have your number. Because it is a phishing email. Seriously, just delete it and forget about it.

Righty ho. I will do then.
Thank you.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:19

NinePoppadomsAndASaagAloo · 19/08/2025 17:12

@MontyStrikesAgain I’ve drawn on your screenshots so you can see what sort of things point to a scam email.

The ‘s’ and ‘e’ in the word ‘send’ are actually a completely different character that looks like two letters joined together. No legitimate company would do that, not even by mistake.

At the top of the email there is a picture of a cloud and the word ‘Cloud’. What you would normally expect to see here might be a company logo perhaps. Do you know of a photo storage company called ‘Cloud’? No. It’s known as the cloud or cloud storage and it’s not a company it’s a thing.

They say they’ve called you three times. Have you checked your call log for three missed calls from an unknown number that should all be the same? They haven’t called you.

Also, you’ve scribbled out your email address which is good, but go back to the email and tap in that area and you should see the email address they have sent this email from. I bet it’s either a nonsense email made up of letters and numbers that don’t mean anything, or it could be from a legitimate sounding company but nothing to do with cloud storage.

I hope that reassures you that yes this is a scam. It’s a phishing email which means they hope you will click on a link or button or attachment in the email, so they can then get your money, bank details or password to something.

This is wonderfully helpful, thank you very much! I appreciate the pictures to aid my understanding of this.
Strangely, they don't seem to have an email address, it's most strange.
Who's behind this mean trick? How do they know who I am?

OP posts:
HumanRightsAreHumanRights · 19/08/2025 17:17

I get this email fairly often.

I have zero photos stored in any online storage but I still get it.

It seems to do a countdown to when my photos will be deleted, then after a couple of days it starts up again.

I never open them, just hover my mouse over the email address which is always some random weird one then I block sender.

amicisimma · 19/08/2025 17:15

Yup. Scam.

I keep getting that email and I don't have icloud storage.

CleanShirt · 19/08/2025 17:14

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:13

Well I can't see what their email address is. It is strange. Where there should be their email address, it says my real name instead. It's confusing.
Nobody has called me at all today, so I wondered if they might not have my correct number.

They haven't called you because they don't have your number. Because it is a phishing email. Seriously, just delete it and forget about it.

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:14

CleanShirt · 19/08/2025 17:11

Of course your photos won't be deleted. It's a scam. They don't have access to any of your accounts.

I see. Thank you my love.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:13

Elephantsarenottheonlyfruit · 19/08/2025 17:02

Quick ways to tell if it’s a scam email:
-does it address you by name? rather than ‘user’ ‘customer’ or [email address] if not likely scam
-does it want you to spend money urgently by threatening something distressing? If so likely scam
-have you got a ‘cloud’ account (NB this isn’t iCloud in this email) and can you check independently how much storage you have?
-have you missed 3 calls - why would they try and call you three times in one day for this?

Well I can't see what their email address is. It is strange. Where there should be their email address, it says my real name instead. It's confusing.
Nobody has called me at all today, so I wondered if they might not have my correct number.

OP posts:
AllotmentTime · 19/08/2025 17:12

They're not trying to steal your photos as such, but do something like get you to enter your "login details" (ie they are trying to get your username and password and get into other accounts of yours) or get you to pay money to "protect your photos" something like that.

Have a read of this for some tips on how to spot scams in future. The urgency/threat combo is a really common feature of scams, as PPs have said.

I wouldn't personally bother reporting this one as it's so common, but there's info on that too.

How to spot a scam email, text message or call

Recognise the signs someone is trying to scam you, and learn how to check if a message you have received is genuine.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams/spot-scams

NinePoppadomsAndASaagAloo · 19/08/2025 17:12

@MontyStrikesAgain I’ve drawn on your screenshots so you can see what sort of things point to a scam email.

The ‘s’ and ‘e’ in the word ‘send’ are actually a completely different character that looks like two letters joined together. No legitimate company would do that, not even by mistake.

At the top of the email there is a picture of a cloud and the word ‘Cloud’. What you would normally expect to see here might be a company logo perhaps. Do you know of a photo storage company called ‘Cloud’? No. It’s known as the cloud or cloud storage and it’s not a company it’s a thing.

They say they’ve called you three times. Have you checked your call log for three missed calls from an unknown number that should all be the same? They haven’t called you.

Also, you’ve scribbled out your email address which is good, but go back to the email and tap in that area and you should see the email address they have sent this email from. I bet it’s either a nonsense email made up of letters and numbers that don’t mean anything, or it could be from a legitimate sounding company but nothing to do with cloud storage.

I hope that reassures you that yes this is a scam. It’s a phishing email which means they hope you will click on a link or button or attachment in the email, so they can then get your money, bank details or password to something.

Are all my photos about to be deleted???
Are all my photos about to be deleted???
CleanShirt · 19/08/2025 17:11

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:09

Oh do you.
And when you ignore it, do you find your photos are still there? They don't get deleted if you ignore these emails?

Of course your photos won't be deleted. It's a scam. They don't have access to any of your accounts.

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:10

AllotmentTime · 19/08/2025 16:57

It's a scam. Don't worry and definitely do NOT click on any of the links.

Ok. Thank you dear.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:09

tonyhawks23 · 19/08/2025 16:59

I get that email alot,I've not clicked on it as seems scammy to me

Oh do you.
And when you ignore it, do you find your photos are still there? They don't get deleted if you ignore these emails?

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:08

I see.
They sound like little bastards.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:07

BlueBlueBerries · 19/08/2025 17:02

They don’t want your photos. They want money

I see.
They sound like little bastards.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:06

HDready · 19/08/2025 17:03

They aren’t trying to scam your photos, they are trying to persuade you to give them your bank details under the guise of paying for more cloud storage I imagine. Just delete and ignore. And don’t click on any links.

Oh I see dear. Thank you kindly.

OP posts:
MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 17:05

sunshineandshowers21 · 19/08/2025 17:00

definitely a scam. i get them all time. even if your icloud is full is just means your photos won’t be backed up to the cloud - they’ll still be on your phone. you can pay a few pounds a month for more icloud storage if you want to be sure all your photos are backed up. i also back mine up to an external hard drive just to be extra extra safe!

Oh do you dear, do you mean you put them on one of those little things that are an inch big? How do you get your photos from your cloud on to one of those? I would like to know how to do that in case they vanish from my cloud.

OP posts:
Boomer55 · 19/08/2025 17:03

MontyStrikesAgain · 19/08/2025 16:56

Oh mumsnet won't include the images I included. It says they're under review.
I wanted to show them.
Sorry - editing to say the images are showing now. Thanks mumsnet.

Edited

Scam.Just ignore.

HDready · 19/08/2025 17:03

They aren’t trying to scam your photos, they are trying to persuade you to give them your bank details under the guise of paying for more cloud storage I imagine. Just delete and ignore. And don’t click on any links.

Elephantsarenottheonlyfruit · 19/08/2025 17:02

Quick ways to tell if it’s a scam email:
-does it address you by name? rather than ‘user’ ‘customer’ or [email address] if not likely scam
-does it want you to spend money urgently by threatening something distressing? If so likely scam
-have you got a ‘cloud’ account (NB this isn’t iCloud in this email) and can you check independently how much storage you have?
-have you missed 3 calls - why would they try and call you three times in one day for this?

BlueBlueBerries · 19/08/2025 17:02

They don’t want your photos. They want money