Pretending to be a Google employee, calling to scam and take over Gmail accounts

Recently, Mr. Sam Mitrovic - a Microsoft solution consultant, warned Gmail users about the scam of impersonating Google employees, sending messages and calling to notify that the victim's account has signs of being hacked, asking them to perform operations to restore the account.

Initially, the subjects will send an email message to the victim, asking to approve an account recovery attempt in another region or country. Just a few minutes later, the victim will receive a call from the subject claiming to be a Google employee.

The subjects will ask the victim if they are on a business trip or traveling abroad, then notify that the victim's Gmail account is showing signs of being hacked, and if security measures are not quickly taken, all data will be at risk of being stolen.

Scammers will impersonate Google employees, asking users to access a link to provide personal information.

After convincing the victim, the subjects will send another Email message, informing that the victim's case is being handled by the staff, requesting access to the attached link to provide personal information to verify account ownership.

After providing the information, the Email message asking for approval of the account recovery attempt appears again, this time the message states that the attempt is being made at a location that matches where the victim is currently living. Once the victim approves, the account will be completely taken over by the subjects.

Faced with the above scam, the Department of Information Security ( Ministry of Information and Communications ) recommends that people be vigilant when receiving messages with similar content as above. Carefully check the URL and Email address through the official information portal.

Avoid sharing sensitive information and personal data on social networking sites. Never access strange links, provide information, or follow instructions from people whose identity has not been verified.

When receiving suspicious messages or calls, people need to quickly block and report the messages, and report the email address and phone number of the stranger to the authorities to promptly prevent fraud.

Chi Hieu

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