Ask HN: Notice of Class Action Settlement Re Google Plus

Yeahhhhh somehow how I find this super fishy. The email is incredibly well-written, which makes it sound way more legitimate, not to mention it didn't get caught by the spam bots, but that link just seems fishy. I found other forum threads that said the link works if you add the https to the beginning of the link, but somebody said it just asks for your bank or PayPal info which is a big no-no. I personally do not want to even attempt navigating the link; I don't have good blockers or virus prevention on my phone lol. Honestly I just wanna opt out of the thing, no idea why I would wanna sue Google in the future, but I can tell you I don't need $12 and I don't recall my personal info being stolen or used.

Even I am at a loss as to whether it is legit or not. I have multiple Google+ accounts, and my husband having a couple himself. I did receive the email on my main personal email account, but not my others, such as my Thylacine Alive one, which is not relating to my Chibi's World account in any form. My husband, who also has a couple Google+ accounts, did not receive this email, either. I'm awaiting response from my followers on Facebook and Twitter regarding this, as well. Hopefully we get an answer, soon.

Can confirm that adding https:// the url works for getting on the website.

According to the privacy policy, the website is run by a company called Angeion, which according to a quick google search is a settlement administration company. Those handle complying with settlement agreements for other companies. Kinda like the one listed at the bottom of this webpage:

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7999009/in-re-google-pl...

The addon "uMatrix" that I have on firefox confirms that the only parts of the website are from Angeion, the website listed, and the usual google analytics crap.

The adresses from the website and email are for what appear to be a real court office in the northern distric of California and the Angeion office in Philidelphia. I couldn't find anything on the listed phone number.

To me the parts that looked the skethiest to me were:

1) Asking to not call the california office

2) Saying that anyone who does not reply and opt-out will no longer be allowed to sue after the set date

Disclaimer I am not in any way a lawyer. The things that look sketchy to me could easily just be normal legal stuff that I disagree with (I'm staring really hard at the "you can't sue us if you don't notice this email in time). Asking to not call the California office could just be to prevent the legal office from being spammed by calls when there's a different place specifically set up for that.

Also, the information asked for on the website don't seem unusual given it's self proposed purpose. The information asked is very dependent on what you're trying to do, e.g. opting out requires an address and submiting a claim requires a claim ID.

I think it's legit:

https://9to5google.com/2020/08/04/many-receiving-settlement-...

But the max award is no more than $12, so I'm not going give them enough personal information to find out for sure.

I actually just got the email as well and the first thing I did was to see if this was legit or not. Would love information if you guys could find any

I definitely would like to know if this is legit or not. I just got the email too!

I got it as well and am waiting for official word before taking next steps.

i think it may be legit but something about the toll free phone menu it almost sounds too easy and good to be true. i feel like if google was to send out a mass email like that, the links would work.

It’s not real.