If you use Gmail, you may have received a message (or many) today stating someone shared a Google Doc with you.
The problem? The email is a scam.
Google reported Wednesday that an email phishing scam was sending fake Google Docs links from email users’ contacts, enticing them to click to open. The emails look eerily similar to the actual email Google sends when someone has shared a document, except when users look more closely, they’ll see one glaring difference: neither the document’s title nor the official blue Google Docs logo appears in the link.
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
These types of scams are not uncommon. When a user clicks on the link, hackers can then access their login and other sensitive information.
I received no fewer than 10 of these emails today, both from colleagues and students, present and former, which means plenty of people actually have been clicking on the email and falling for the scam. Yikes.
Google released a statement Wednesday saying it had taken measures to protect users’ accounts and had disabled the impersonating Google Docs accounts.
As a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to NEVER click on a suspicious-looking email or link — certainly if it’s from a sender you don’t know, but even if it’s from someone in your contacts. If it’s not something they’d normally pass along, be sure to contact them outside of email to confirm the email or link is legitimate.
Additionally, Google is asking users to be diligent about reporting suspicious phishing emails using their official form.
If you accidentally fell victim to this scam today, you may want to pass the information along to your contacts so, in the event that they receive similar emails in the future, they don’t make the same mistake.