Q & A -Cyber Space

Q: This week my smartphone received an alert from Google listing the balances due on my credit cards. My response was “never” do it again, but I have to wonder about my personal financial/identity security. How did they get this information? Is it legal?

Many credit card and utility companies send payment reminders by email that include details like the name on the account, the payment amount and the date due. What is probably happening here is that Google is automatically scanning your Gmail messages for notices about package deliveries, flight times, restaurant invitations and yes — bill reminders — and using the information in smartphone alerts for its Google Now/Google Assistant software.

The Google bill-payment alert should not show the full account number or anything too specific, and it should just echo the details contained in the message from the bill sender. If you look at the alert on the Google Now screen, you should see an option to view the original message so you can compare the two. (In the Google app, you can also type in “show me my bills” to see a list of emailed payment notices.) If anything arouses your suspicion, call your credit-card companies to confirm your account security.

Google makes no secret of the fact that it collects personal information from you as you partake of its free services like Gmail and Google Search. The company says it uses this data to make its services work better for the people who use them, although the information is also used for targeted advertising.

If you do not want to receive bill reminders or other smartphone alerts based on messages sent to your Gmail account, you can adjust your Google app settings to disable the payment notices or turn off the Google Now feed altogether. Open the Google app on your phone, tap the menu icon (or profile photo) in the top-left corner, select Settings and then Your Feed to make adjustments.

Q: I got an email from Amazon for something I didn’t order. Should I be worried my account has been compromised? So far, nothing has happened.

As with other large organisations like the Internal Revenue Service or financial companies, online thieves have created fraudulent Amazon names to try to fool people into divulging account passwords and other personal information. These phishing messages typically prey on common account-security fears, like someone ordering things and charging them to your credit card, notices of your password being changed or requests for you to update your payment information because of suspicious activity.

Some phishing messages immediately give themselves away as bogus through bad grammar, typographical errors, a spoofed return address or other incorrect information. If you can easily spot it as a fake, report it to the company by forwarding the whole message as an attachment to [e-mail].

As with other out-of-the-blue account notices you may get, do not click links in the message or open any attached files, even if they look legitimate. If you are concerned about your account security or merchandise orders you may have forgotten, go directly to the Amazon site and log in under the Your Account menu at the top of the page.

On the Your Account page, you can see a list of your past and pending purchases in the Your Orders menu — in case there is one you forgot. The Your Account page serves as a dashboard for all your Amazon account settings, so you can also change your password for the site in the Login & Security Settings.

With the holiday gift-giving season in full swing now, expect to see more of these phishing messages. Amazon has its own guide to dealing with the problem at http://amzn.to/2gsS1ME and a page of tips to help avoid payment fraud.