A Bizarre Case of Credential Cloning: When Your Google Account Ends Up in a Stranger’s Hands

In an astonishing incident that raises serious questions about online security, I recently encountered a situation that I could never have imagined. A stranger reached out to me via social media to share a perplexing issue she encountered on her MacBook Pro: her Google Chrome browser began auto-filling my saved credentials whenever she attempted to log into websites.

This alarming revelation suggested that my personal credentials—carefully stored in my Google account over the years—had somehow been transferred to her Google account. To clarify, I have never interacted with this person before, nor have we accessed each other’s computers or accounts. Our paths had never crossed until yesterday.

Upon meeting her today, I discovered that her browser settings mirrored my own almost perfectly. From bookmarks to extensions, everything appeared to be a carbon copy of my digital life, yet she insisted that she was using her account. This situation is completely bewildering.

So, what could have caused this strange phenomenon? It’s a question I’m eager to explore. Could it be a rare glitch in Google’s system? Or perhaps some unintentional synchronization of data? I attempted to reach out to Google support, but so far, my inquiries have gone unanswered.

If anyone has insights into this bizarre situation or has experienced anything similar, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. The implications for security and privacy in the digital age are profound, and understanding how this happened could help prevent future incidents.