Beware if you had old reddit accounts: They're resurrecting old accounts

submitted by [deleted] from self.GenderCritical

I received an email from reddit asking me if an old deleted account of mine was related to my email. This account was one I had DELETED over a year ago-- possibly two years ago! My messages and account name were gone from my old posts. Apparently it seems they resurrected this old account and and I have no way of deleting it. My old password no longer allowed me to access it, obviously... but there it still is. Messages I had used "nuke reddit" to erase are back up on reddit. Of course, I will get no replies from reddit. Just a heads up if you had any old accounts with personal/sensitive information on them... those accounts are likely going to resurface and be read-able again.

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[–]FuriousPenguin 28 insightful - 1 fun28 insightful - 0 fun29 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I wonder why they're doing it. It's either because too many people are leaving Reddit and they want to make it look like they're growing. Or it's a threat.

[–][deleted] 17 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 0 fun18 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

All of the above, perhaps?

[–][deleted] 22 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 0 fun23 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I guess my point is: don't assume if you make a new account on reddit, that they won't be able to find your old account and doxx you, harass you, ban you-- because obviously they're keeping track of who we are. I wouldn't recommend going back there anyway, and I have no plans on doing so, but I thought I'd mention this just in case anyone needs to read it.

[–]Realwoman 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

What if you never used an email with the account?

[–]christine_grab 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Back before emails were not required, I never gave Reddit my email address. I'd made several accounts back then. I got emails from Reddit to the email address that I never gave them, notifying me that someone was trying to re-activate these accounts and I needed to log in to stop them. I figured it was some kind of trap tp confirm my identity and never responded to them.

[–]Realwoman 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Are emails required now? They weren't a few weeks ago, although you had to go through the desktop site to register without an email. Anyway, I just created a throwaway email address for reddit.

[–]christine_grab 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

They were required for at least a couple of years, and I am surprised that they took that requirement away. Allegedly, the reason for needing an email address was to cut down on bots.

[–][deleted] 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

LOL. Yet they had tons of trolls and repeat ban evaders despite the email requirement.

[–]venecia 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Shit, I thought this was a one-off that I only got. I deleted the associated account. Thank god that I never chose to use an email address with my main accounts.

This is an awfully weird coincidence and I wouldn't be surprised if they're sending these out with the intended purpose of ''Hey! Here's an old account! Is it associated with this email address?'' Click ''yes'' and reddit now can see your IP and definitively link it to all other accounts you have. Click ''no'' (which I did, and now regret), and pray that they don't scrape your IP anyway/notice which account you're using when the page opens.

Don't click shit. Wait a week or so to throw them off the trail, and quietly go in, renuke, and delete the account.

[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can't even get into that old account... I deactivated it. Not sure why it's alive again.

[–]EnnuiOz 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I've only ever had the one account and every time i've opened reddit for probably the last month there's been a message about whether I want to link my email account. I just answer no but now I'm wondering if they already know it as I exclusively post from my phone on my own IP (ie, not VPN), and was relatively active on GC.

This is my first post over here and, while unrelated to the topic, I really miss GC. I am older and somewhat struggling to find my groove on this new platform.

[–]trw365 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

If you happen to be based in the EU (I think theres some facility for it if you're based in the US through California (CCPA) as well) I would file a GDPR

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

From the US and not CA.

[–]trw365 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You don't have to be a California resident for it to apply "CCPA does not explicitly require that a household be physically located in California or a device be owned by a California resident." https://www.foxrothschild.com/publications/does-the-california-consumer-privacy-act-apply-to-me/ and it definitely applies to reddit "Which companies does the CCPA affect? All companies that serve California residents and have at least $25 million in annual revenue must comply with the law. In addition, companies of any size that have personal data on at least 50,000 people or that collect more than half of their revenues from the sale of personal data, also fall under the law. Companies don't have to be based in California or have a physical presence there to fall under the law. They don't even have to be based in the United States."

It contains a right to be forgotten provision and also I would ask them to explain how a deleted account was resurrected email address: redditdatarequests@reddit.com

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the info! Sent them yet another email. I don't think my account was hacked, I think they're pulling some bullshit.

[–]christine_grab 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I posted this above, bur posting again so you see it: Back before emails were not required, I never gave Reddit my email address. I'd made several accounts back then. I got emails from Reddit to the email address that I never gave them, notifying me that someone was trying to re-activate these accounts and I needed to log in to stop them. I figured it was some kind of trap tp confirm my identity and never responded to them

[–][deleted] 9 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Proton Mail is your new friend, ladies. If you can, give them nothing whatsoever that points to your personal info.

[–]DifferentAirGC 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yep, it happened to me too. I think I actually didn't delete that acc, but I haven't used it in a long time and barely posted anything