Google accidentally deletes Gmail accounts

What would you do if your Gmail account was disabled in the account of spamming? In a recent incident, Google came across a large network of spammers who used their Gmail accounts for spamming. Google started closely monitoring on these accounts and disabled their accounts in bulk! During the process, handful of legitimate Gmail accounts was also disabled. Gmail Team said:

“We have been actively investigating a batch of accounts that were accidentally disabled and are currently in the process of re-enabling these accounts. This error occurred in an effort to target a large network of spammers to keep them out of the Gmail system and keep your inbox free from spam. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we re-enable these accounts as quickly as possible”

Google is trying to restore these legit accounts, but it seems like some re-enabled accounts don’t work normally. Some could login, but couldn’t download any of the attachments. Few who use Google for just about everything are virtually stranded. They can’t write blog posts, they can’t check their AdSense earnings or read feeds on Google Reader.

Can’t blame Google on this, but they should have taken precautionary measure like backing up those accounts before disabling or deleting. Lesson to learn is “don’t use Google for everything, have backups of critical items”. As of now, we can simply pray that Google won’t commit such mistakes on our account.