Is Your Gmail Account Hacked and Locked Out?

Emails are an integral part of our personal and professional lives, and Gmail by Google is the best email client for all email users. We all know Google’s popularity as the world’s biggest search engine, and this fame has now led to Gmail’s creation as the go-to email service for many people. Amidst all the great things Google provides for its email (aka Gmail) users, many people face a critical issue: Gmail account hacked and locked out.

Many Gmail users can’t log into their accounts since they get locked out of their accounts. They can’t also log in due to their account password getting changed without their knowledge (also known as account hacking). If you are a Gmail user looking for solutions to this serious issue, read this blog and learn the solutions!

Reasons for Gmail Account Getting Locked Out

The following points discuss some critical reasons for the Gmail account lock-out issue:

• Forgetting Account Credentials: The primary reason Gmail users face the locked out of your account issue is forgetting the account details like email address and password. Many Gmail users create complicated email addresses or passwords without keeping a record, leading to the lock-out issue during the login attempt.
• Lost Account Password: Continuing the previous point, many Gmail users forget their account password. Hence, they encounter the locked out of your account message. They attempt to try password recovery without adding a recovery email account or mobile number, leading to Gmail locking their account for a limited period to ensure email safety.
• Account Hacking: The most critical reason for the Gmail account lock-out issue is the account getting hacked by hackers. They get hold of your Gmail account and change the password and other security settings, locking you out of your account for various reasons.
• Policy Violation: Many Gmail users temporarily lose access to their accounts due to policy breaches. Gmail’s security algorithms track suspicious account usage, leading to account lock-outs or even suspensions and deletions if they find questionable content being shared or received.

These points list the possibilities for Gmail users getting locked out of their accounts. The upcoming section explores the factors that lead to Gmail accounts getting hacked.

How do Gmail Accounts Get Hacked?

• Fragile Passwords: The first and most important reason for Gmail account hacking is the weaker password policies. Passwords like 12345, qwerty, admin, and user’s birthdate are common passwords for worldwide Gmail users. Such passwords are easily breakable for hackers, who use Password Spraying, Brute Force, and Social Engineering to crack your simple password and lock you out of your account.
• Empty Mailbox or Strange Sent Emails: Another factor for identifying a hacked Gmail account is looking for an empty mailbox or weird emails in your Sent folder. If you see either of these indicators, your Gmail account has got compromised or hacked.
• Mailbox Spamming: Hackers frequently send spam mail disguised as legitimate official emails, and clicking on the links exposes your sensitive information to hackers. This frequent spamming tends to fill up your mailbox storage quickly. Thus, many users report the “Gmail is running out of space” issue.
• Not Signing Out of a Public Computer or Internet Connection: Another factor for a hacked Gmail account is the human error of forgetting to sign out when using a public computer and internet connection. You may call it a slip-up, but hackers find your accidental slip-up the perfect opportunity to change your account password and other security factors.
• Same Password for All Accounts: Another reason for Gmail account hacking is using the same password for all your accounts. It is one of the easy account hacking reasons for Gmail users. Hackers use Dictionary Attacks and Email Phishing to get unrestricted access to your Gmail account credentials, endangering your critical mailbox and Google Drive data.

These reasons highlight the ease of Gmail account hacking for hackers and the lack of awareness on Gmail users’ part. The upcoming section discusses the consequences or factors following the Gmail account hacking or locking out issue.

What Happens if I Get Locked Out of My Gmail Account?

Every digital mistake has a critical result, even for email accounts. We will now discuss some severe outcomes of the “Gmail account hacked and locked out” issue:

• Free Account Without Data Safety: Gmail provides the facility of creating a free email account with 15 GB storage. But Gmail doesn’t have notable email security features besides automated spam filtering. Hackers benefit from Google’s lack of additional email protection features for free accounts, leading to account hacking or even deletion.
• No Data Loss Obligation: Google doesn’t hold itself responsible for Gmail data loss except for backend issues (in other words, server issues) from its side. Gmail users must regularly backup their data to prevent any untoward data loss.
• Critical Data Leakage: The previous two outcomes lead to the worst scenario for any Gmail user: data leak. Once a hacker gets access to your Gmail account, they can extract your critical data and sell it on the dark web for monetary gains. It leads to reputation ruin and financial loss for individuals.

These points necessitate an urgent data recovery before critical data loss. Don’t fret anymore! We will explore the best solutions to prevent Gmail account hacking and lock-out issues.

Precautions to Avoid the “Gmail Account Hacked and Locked Out” Problem

Many Gmail users must have another question: “What to do if my Gmail account gets locked?” This section describes precautions to protect your crucial Gmail emails and other data. Read them to safeguard your Google mailbox.

Save Gmail Data Manually

You can manually save Gmail data with Google Takeout to avoid data loss due to Gmail account hacking and lock-out issues. You can export your Gmail emails once or every two months in an MBOX file. This service allows you to export the extracted ZIP file to OneDrive and Dropbox for secure cloud access.

However, this data extraction service has many drawbacks that limit its usage. The first limitation is the absence of Incremental Backup, meaning Takeout can’t save only the newest emails. It downloads all emails every time you start a data export process. Another drawback is the scattered mailbox data once you unzip the downloaded ZIP file. The lack of a clear mailbox hierarchy during the export process complicates the arrangement of your emails.

Backup Your Mailbox with Expert Solution

How will you access your Google emails once your account gets hacked and locked out? Don’t worry! SysTools has developed the perfect solution: the Gmail Backup Software to backup your mailbox offline. This software has many astonishing features that help you backup your emails without data loss worries. The software maintains the folder hierarchy or structure during the mailbox export process, thus saving your emails and other data in their original format.

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The Incremental Backup feature helps you save only the recently received Gmail emails in various file formats for local access. You can even delete your emails from the server using the Delete After Download option to prevent unlawful access. The Folder and Email Filter help you with selective backup of your mailbox.

Forward Your Gmail Emails to Secondary Account

Another way to resolve the “Gmail account hacked and locked out” problem is to forward your primary Gmail account emails to a secondary account. It ensures a regular backup of your emails to the second account while you work on recovering the primary account.

Here are the steps to forward your primary account emails to your secondary account in Gmail:

1. Open the primary Gmail account on your computer.
2. Next, click the Settings icon and select See All Settings.
3. Then, select the Forwarding and POP/IMAP section and click the Add a forwarding address box under Forwarding.
4. Enter your secondary Gmail account and click the Next box.
5. Then, confirm the mail forwarding by clicking the Proceed button.
6. Next, click the mail forwarding confirmation link received in the secondary account to allow email forwarding from the primary Gmail account.
7. Click the Confirm button to begin the Gmail email forwarding from the primary to the secondary account.

One thing to remember here is Gmail can forward only new emails to the secondary account, rendering this method unusable for backing up your entire mailbox. Hence, the automated software described here becomes the best solution to save your emails locally compared to the Takeout service and email forwarding method.

Conclusion

This blog explored the reasons and precautions for the Gmail account hacked and locked out problem. Many Gmail users complain of getting locked out of their accounts or losing access to a hacker. The reasons described here highlight the importance of securing the Gmail account to prevent untoward incidents. The precautions listed in this blog are perfect for avoiding the hacking and lock-out Gmail account issue.