> Usually when a gmail account is being used for real spamming, it's an established one that's been taken over
My incident is unlikely to be a real account being taken over. The name format was "firstnamelastnameofficial@gmail.com" and I have a somewhat rare name ... probably well under 40 people worldwide with the exact spelling.
I just encountered this exact pattern. I recently created a new app...recieved an email from what seemed to be a promenant app reviewer on YouTube [youtubersname]corporation@gmail. I said how do I know you are him? Then the weird part was somehow he was able to send me a email from the actual YouTubers public listed email but it went to my spam folder... Then after he told me everything that would be included in the price he said he could only accept payment in giftcards or crypto.
I emailed the YouTuber and told him I think your account is compromised.
My incident is unlikely to be a real account being taken over. The name format was "firstnamelastnameofficial@gmail.com" and I have a somewhat rare name ... probably well under 40 people worldwide with the exact spelling.