Don’t get caught out.
Gmail users have been warned if they receive an email inviting them to view a document, that it could be a scam.
A sophisticated phishing scam has been shut down by Google this week but it’s thought that hundreds of thousands of users have been affected by the scam.
The hack caught out a lot of people as it poses as someone you know and prompts you to view and edit a Google Doc.
Phishing (or malware) Google Doc links that appear to come from people you may know are going around. DELETE THE EMAIL. DON'T CLICK. pic.twitter.com/fSZcS7ljhu
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 3, 2017
Google are aware of the scam and have taken steps to eliminate the problem.
“We realise people are concerned about their Google accounts, and we’re now able to give a fuller explanation after further investigation,” Google said in a statement emailed by its communications team.
“We have taken action to protect users against an email spam campaign impersonating Google Docs, which affected fewer than 0.1% of Gmail users.”
Although Google say that only 0.1% of users are affected, there are currently over 1 billion active users of Gmail in the world, meaning a significant number of people ave been affected by the scam.
The email was so convincing that the attackers were able to trick people into thinking they were being asked to click on a legitimate document, when in fact they were granting account access to hackers.
