Gmail virus? Not exactly: An alarming phishing scam began circulating online on Wednesday in an attempt to gain access to Google accounts via email. post officey which has as an attachment a fake file of it Google Docs.
This does not mean that you will be infected by the "disastrous" virus as we read in large Greek letters websites when you open the email. Of course you should not fall into the trap and open a link, or an attached file, as we mention very often from this website.
Fraud seems to be more convincing than most, as the link it contains takes users to a legitimate Google login screen to grant rights. So it's no surprise that we see extensive reports of attempted hacking on many social networking platforms like Twitter.
What happens if you open the Google phishing link?
Clicking on the file contains you will be taken to a real Google login page where you will be prompted to select an account to continue. If you grant rights to the next screen, your email will start sending messages to all of your contacts and the circle continues.
The email with the Google Doc comes from a 'Mailinator' address. What is this?
Mailinator is an email service that allows users to access emails on Mailinator without having an account.
One of the main benefits of using this service is that there is no connection to the actual email address of the user, making it difficult to track any emails sent by Mailinator.
What should I do if I open a phishing email with Google Doc?
As with any hacking case, you will want to change your passwords immediately to secure any sensitive personal information. Google is working to fix the problem, according to a statement released via tweets:
Official Google Fishing Email Statement:
Έχουμε προβεί σε ενέργειες για την προστασία των χρηστών από ένα μήνυμα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου που θυμίζει Google Docs και έχουμε απενεργοποιήσει τους λογαριασμούς που προσβάλλονται. Καταργήσαμε τις ψεύτικες σελίδες, προωθήσαμε τις updates through secure browsing.
We try to prevent this type of forgery from happening again. We encourage users to report phishing messages in Gmail.
