Happy Friday!
A new article posted by Malwarebytes this week details how scammers are using AI to trick and gain access to Gmail accounts by pretending to be from Google Support. It starts with a frightening email, claiming that a death certificate has been issued in your name and then asks you to verify your identity. The email will direct you to a fake Google account recovery page, and if you click on “Yes, it’s me,” game over. The scammer gets full access to your Google account, can lock you out and steal any sensitive information you may have buried in those emails.
What makes these attacks different and even more convincing is the use of AI-generated voices to impersonate Google tech support and professional-looking emails that appear to come from legitimate Google company accounts. Scammers are also using 3rd party tools like Salesforce CRM, a trusted platform, which makes their phishing emails look even more authentic. This approach helps trick victims into thinking they're communicating with real Google representatives, making it harder to detect the scam.
The Takeaway
There are a few ways to identify this type of scam.
1) The “To” field of the confirmation email you might receive contains an email address cleverly named something that looks reputable, but is not. For example, GoogleMail[@]InternalCaseTracking[.] com, which is a non-Google domain. Anyone can setup an email address on a 'fake' domain - look here first for signs of scamminess.
2) Google Assistant calls come from an automated system and only in some cases, from a manual operator. Google Support on the other hand will not contact you unsolicited so if you're talking to a "Google Support Agent" that called you, that's a scammer.
3) Did you get a security alert from Google? Double check to make sure it's real in Gmail by:
* Tapping your Gmail profile photo in the top right corner
* Tap Manage your Google Account
* Select the Security tab
You will see something similar to this:
Any messages claiming to be security alerts from Google that are not listed there will not be from Google.
Stay safe out there.
-Attila
PS. If you think that this email might be helpful to a friend, family member, client or co-worker, feel free to pass it along. Always a pleasure to be of service to you and the community.
New Friday Funnies
What happens when pumpkins drink alcohol?
They get smashed.
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