Received an email that said your
Gmail ID
will stop working in the next three days? Be warned, this is a new phishing scam that fraudsters are using to dupe the naive ones.
How does the new Gmail scam works?
The phishing email lands into users’
Gmail
with the subject line – ‘Google Alert -Your Authentication is Pending’ to grab attention. The urgency is further accentuated when a user opens the email and reads that the email ID will be deactivated in three days.
The email states that ‘your ID is not configured with your Google Cloud Account’ and further asks you to authenticate the ID by making a payment. In this case, it asks for a meager payment of Rs 2. Tapping on the ‘Authenticate Now’ button will take you to a fake Google Cloud website.
Here’s the complete text of the phishing email
Hello User,
Google Alert - about your Email ID
Your Email ID will be stopped in the next 3 days
your ID is not configured with your Google Cloud Account.
Authenticate your ID with ₹ 2 only.
How to identify phishing emails?
Being cautious and attentive can help differentiate a fraud email from a genuine one. Here’s some tips to spot a phishing email
- Phishing emails will demand urgent actions.
- They usually have poor grammar and spelling errors
- Request for payment, sensitive data or login credentials
- Inconsistent and mismatched email addresses, links and domain names. Like in this case, the email is being sent from [email protected] but the domain name reads Google Team Alert.
- Suspicious attachments and links that take you to insecure websites
How to stay safe?
- Never click any links or attachments in suspicious emails
- Report the message (see below).
- Do not take any action and delete the email immediately
English (US) ·