Warning about sophisticated phishing scam targeting Gmail users

A sophisticated new phishing scam is targeting billions of users of Google's Gmail service, and anyone can fall victim.

Billions of Gmail users are being targeted by hackers

Sam Mitrovic, a security consultant for Microsoft, has just warned about a very sophisticated phishing scam targeting Gmail users, assisted by AI.

Sam Mitrovic himself was also targeted by hackers with this sophisticated scam. Specifically, he received a letter with the content of requesting to restore his Gmail account with a link to a fake Gmail interface website to steal login information. This is a fairly common scam, of course Sam Mitrovic was not fooled by this trick.

After declining the request, Sam Mitrovic was surprised to receive a notification that he had missed a call from Google in Sydney just 40 minutes later. However, he ignored the information.

A week later, at the same time of day, Mitrovic received the same message and again declined. But this time, he listened to the call that came in later and spoke to a man with an American accent who claimed to be a Google support employee, even though the call originated from Australia.

The man on the other end of the line said he had noticed suspicious activity on Sam Mitrovic's Gmail account and suspected someone was trying to hack into his mailbox to steal data.

While the call was in progress, Mitrovic quickly searched for information about the calling phone number on Google and found that it was a valid phone number, with information appearing on Google's website.

However, Sam Mitrovic still did not fully trust this call, so he asked the other side to send an email to confirm the information. When the email arrived in his inbox, he observed very carefully and saw that the content of this email was very genuine, just like other emails sent from Google.

Content of the fake email sent to Sam Mitrovic by the bad guy

However, when Sam Mitrovic carefully checked the email address, he discovered that the email was sent from a fake Google domain, with a very sophisticated disguise. This sign helped him realize that this was just a trick of hackers to break into his Gmail account.

Scammers can look up Google phone numbers on the internet, then use phone spoofing software to make calls to trick victims into believing they are calling from Google and easily follow the instructions. They can also send fake emails using Salesforce CRM software, which allows the sender's address to be changed to any address they want.

If Sam Mitrovic accepts the account recovery notice, he could lose control of his account to the scammers. In many situations, an ordinary person can easily fall for the trick and give up control to the bad guys.

Mitrovic believes that the targeting of Gmail accounts is a global campaign of hackers and he is one of them. Therefore, he had to speak up to warn everyone.

Users should be wary of attachments sent in Gmail.

To protect yourself, users should not accept any unverified Gmail account recovery requests. When opening emails, carefully check the sender's address to ensure that the emails are from people you know or from large, trustworthy companies.

If you receive an email from a stranger with links or attachments, it is best to ignore and delete these emails immediately. Absolutely do not access the website or download the attachments sent.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/canh-bao-chieu-tro-lua-dao-tinh-vi-nham-vao-nguoi-dung-gmail-290115.html