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Forum Discussion
Photographs that are NOT mine in Dropbox - and NOT as a result of using a shared computer!
Hello,
I have discovered a folder in my Dropbox entitled 'Camera Uploads' which is full of hundreds of photos and videos that are not mine. The files are dated from August 2012-November 2013 (which by coincidence is likely to be around about the same time that I set up my Dropbox account). I have not had reason to look in the folder before as I thought it was simply a default folder that Dropbox created on signup.
At first I thought perhaps the folder had been shared with me accidentally but it turns out it is not a shared folder and Dropbox is telling me that the files were uploaded 'by you' (i.e. me!).
Having searched the Dropbox community threads and Google I found someone who had a similar issue and one of the possible reasons given in the thread was that perhaps the user had used a shared computer in the past and left themselves signed into Dropbox and then someone else's phone photos were auto-backed up when they connected. I do not believe this to be the case for me. The reason being is that I looked through all the photos and videos to try to decipher if I knew the owner. I did not. However, one of the photos displayed a gig ticket stub which displayed the surname of the person who bought it - and lo and behold it happens to match my surname. This all seems to point to a scenario where someone with the same name as me was somehow able to sign in to my account and use it to back up their files. Can anyone (at Dropbox or otherwise) explain how this could possibly have happened?
This is surely a security issue. The reason I was poking around in the folders is because I was preparing to start using Dropbox for my business needs but this issue has alarmed me and I now have strong doubts about the security of Dropbox, especially for sharing/storing confidential business files.
BTW I have now changed my password and I was tempted to delete the folder but I feel kind of bad that I now have someone's personal photos (pics and videos of their kids in the school play etc.). I have tried to get in touch with someone at Dropbox but I currently have the basic free account and my options are limited to a chatbot or this forum (another turnoff - I hate when companies make it impossible to contact them!).
Hoping you can help!
Thanks,
Nat
57 Replies
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Hi, yes I took a sample of about 10 and they all say the same thing - from Deb B (me) and underneath "from Desktop". There are thousands and I have deleted so many already and my Dropbox still says it's full. Thanks for your help!
I have 0 shared content. They all said shared by Deb B. "Desktop". The majority of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds are mostly from the Web....and not even pages I have been browsing. At this point, I'm so frustrated I will just delete all the years and say goodbye to the random personal photos here and there.
- Hi Debmahtab, it seems you are having the same issue as me. I would bet money that the photos you've found in the account belong to another Dropbox user named Deb B.
I discovered that the photos filling up my account belonged to someone with the same surname as me - I looked through all the photos and found a photo of a ticket stub with the surname of the purchaser which happens to be the same as mine. My suspicion is they also have the same first name.
I believe Dropbox has a bug which on occasion causes people with the same names to get their accounts crossed.
Perhaps take a look through the photos for any identifiable information, perhaps even contact info - then you can make contact and get proof of this security fault. - Also, if you delete the files, who's to say it wont get filled up again with the same person's files. I recommend finding another cloud-based file storage provider.
I have Icloud on my phone so I'm just going to delete everything and if it happens again uninstall the app. Thanks so much for taking the time to help me and research this. I really appreciate it.
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey both, could you send me your ticket number references, so I can locate them on my end?
- My Ticket # is 15856784.
I was told in March 2022 that I would receive an update once the Dropbox agent had spoken to the engineers to get more information however, I have not heard anything since. I cannot find my ticket number
- Hannah
Hey Natmonster, would you mind replying back to that ticket? If it's closed, this will create a new ticket number, so please send that along, once it shows up.
As for you debmahtab, can you please send us a screenshot of where you see this "shared by Deb B. 'Desktop'"?
Even if two accounts have the same name, they're associated with different email addresses.
That means they're completely different accounts, which cannot be mixed with one another, so this sounds very strange.
When was the last time unknown files were added to your account? Have you changed your password since?
