BBC Morning Live expert issues Gmail users warning over worldwide AI scam
A "worldwide fraud alert" has been issued to the 1.8 billion people with a Gmail account, reports BBC Morning Live. The show's hosts interviewed expert and scam interceptor, Nick Stapleton, who is warning people what is happening - and how to avoid it.
At present, criminals are sending emails which contain a link to a convincing fake website pretending to be Google - and some are even calling users pretending to be customer support. Nick stresses: "The FBI have issued this big warning about the scammers and cyber criminals who are using AI to add an extra layer of sophistication to phishing scams."
The aim is to hack your Gmail because if they get into your Gmail, and the rest of your Google account, "that could be bad news". The scammers have even worked out how to get through the spam filter, he stresses.
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The expert explains: "They get AI to write them [scammers] better emails. What that means is the emails will get through [the spam filter and into your inbox] and some Gmail users have been targeted by two pronged attacks by scammers who are trying to hack their accounts.
"It starts with a phone call in which the scammer might also change their voice because of AI. So they might want to change the way they sound or the nationality, for example, to make them sound more believable as a potential Google customer support person."
Once the have you on the phone, they send you an e-mail, Nick says, where they will ask you to tell them the recovery code. "But here is a really scary bit". He reveals that "if you share that recovery code with a person who you’re on the phone to, they will instantly be able to log into your account and change your passwords."
This can have "devastating" consequences as many people use Google for their bills such as Google Pay. But that's not the only method they're using.
The scam interceptor notes that the scammers will also try to send you an email with a link. Once you click on this, they then want you to "fill out your details."
"It will look exactly like a Google account page, but they'll take your information and then then scammers have your username and password and hack your account that way," he said.
BBC Morning Live approached Google for a comment. The show read their statement, which said: “It’s a known scam targeting a limited number of users. It has no evidence that it’s this wide-scale tactic. It has hardened its defenses to protect users from this type of abuse and suspended accounts that have missed use Google services in these scams”
How to avoid the Gmail scam
Nick says that if you get a call that's "telling you you need to take urgent action", treat it as a scam until proven otherwise. He also says that if you get an email as mentioned above, don’t assume it's real.
You should always check the email address and if it's really Google it should be from "no-reply@accounts.google.com". Nick warns that people should look out for small changes such as an 'O' becoming a zero.
"Google will not call you to change your password", he warns. He then says that if your account has been hacked, don't just changed your Gmail password, change everything as if you use similar/the same passwords on other sites, they could access those too.
You should especially do it quickly if they're money related such as online banking, PayPal and so on. You should also call your bank's fraud department.
