• 3 Posts
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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: November 6th, 2023

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  • Your comment reminded me of the time I tried to connect my new phone number to my accounts, but had trouble with Amazon and AirBnB because the last guy with the number forgot to update his accounts.

    Amazon told me it’d have to delete the old account before allowing me to connect my new number.

    That’s not even the worst one though.

    AirBnB gave me no other option than to log in to the other guy’s account through nothing but the SMS recovery code (which came to my phone since I have his old number now), starting the account recovery process from within his account, and then removing the phone number from his account.

    After logging out (and closing the private browsing window and turning off the VPN), I was then able to link the phone number to my account. (And yes, I tried everything else – from within my account, it told me “Sorry, this number is linked to another account”)

    Never had a problem with AirBnB or the new phone number since then though!










  • If you have some sort of decent antivirus/antimalware like Malwarebytes, that would work for standalone applications to an extent.

    Browser extensions are a lot harder to check.

    Always make sure you get the RIGHT extension from the PROPER SOURCE. Same with most downloads and app store stuff on your mobile devices, but at least with executables, you can additionally run virus scans for some peace of mind.

    Some tips…

    • Always make sure you’re accessing the extension’s download/install page from a trusted source.
    • Check reviews AND READ THEM. Make sure they don’t look suspicious/bot-generated.
    • Consider what permissions you’re giving the extension. Your browser has a lot of personal and sensitive information… including the “keys” to a lot of your accounts. Basically any website that you don’t need to sign into every time you access it? That “key” is stored in your browser.

    I believe you can generally trust what permissions an extension or app needs (since the browser/device knows which permission an extension/app uses, and locks them away otherwise), but be wary of the implications of some of them (such as data from other websites, or accessibility features).