A new scam is circulating online that takes advantage of Gmail’s recently launched verification system.
The system was introduced to combat phishing attacks, but scammers are now using it to trick people.
Cybersecurity engineer Chris Plummer posted on Twitter an image of a spoofed email claiming to be from UPS.
The email had a blue checkmark next to the brand logo, indicating that it was verified by Gmail.
Plummer discovered that the email was fake by checking the header, which had a random email address ending in a UPS URL.
However, hovering over the checkmark displayed a window stating that the message was coming from a legitimate source.
Plummer claims that scammers are exploiting a bug in Gmail to trick the platform’s “authoritative stamp of approval”.
Google initially dismissed the problem, but has since announced that it is working on a fix.
To protect yourself from phishing scams, double-check the header and spelling in the email address, and be wary of any emails urging you to share your financial information.
Don’t click on any links or attachments you don’t recognize.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
