![]() Typically, scammers will do a little background research before setting up the honey trap. So if you're notified about a technical issue on your account try and reach out to service providers directly before following through with any requests.Īs layoffs sweep across the US, cybercriminals are using fake interview scams to exploit willing candidates looking for work. Real IT teams rarely ask you to click on links to resolve issues, either. How to avoid this scam: Legitimate tech platforms like Google Chat won't contact you on the app to notify you about errors on your account. There are a number of tell-tale signs that indicate requests may be illegitimate, though. Similarly to LinkedIn, this scam is pervasive on Google Chat as the platform primarily caters to professional communities. “My colleague wisely ignored the message, highlighting the importance of skepticism and verifying the legitimacy of such claims.” Luckily, his teammate realized it was a scam before any damage was done. “The scammer claimed their computer was compromised and offered assistance for a fee” Saleem told us. Humayun Saleem, a marketing consultant for Clashify, told us about a time when his colleague was targeted by this type of scam. The scammer will then urge the target to install applications to safeguard their systems, or click on a link to resolve the problem. Learn more about some red flags to look out for in our guide to avoiding phishing emails.Īnother common tactic plaguing Google Chat is IT support scams.Īlso known as technical support scams, this type of fraud involves fake IT teams reaching out to users and claiming they've found a problem with their device. How to avoid this scam: While the rise of generative AI is making phishing requests increasingly hard to decipher from the real deal, telltale signs include an inflated sense of urgency, requests for private information, and misspelled or suspicious-looking email addresses. ![]() “My business accounts were compromised, which gave access to unauthorized parties and gave way to potential data breaches.” “What happened afterwards was very unsettling”, he tells. Google Chat user Rhett Stubbendeck from LeverageRx fell victim prey to the ruse a fter receiving a “ seemingly innocent notification appeared from a very trusted financial institution”. Fortunately, her IT department was quick to shut the request down, but not all Google Chat users are this luckily.Ī phishing scam spotted at the University of Miami. “The message contained a link that appeared to be a shared document, but upon closer inspection, it led to a fraudulent login page” Sherbina tells. Nikita Sherbina from the SaaS company Aiscreen.io almost fell victim to the hustle after receiving a seemingly innocuous message that claimed to be from a well-known client. ![]() Unsurprisingly, the most popular scam to be aware of on Google Chat is phishing – a social engineering practice where criminals masque as reputable sources in an attempt to lure sensitive information from victims.ĭue to its low barrier to entry and relatively high success rate, phishing scams are now the most common type of cyber attack in the US, and Google Chat's public access makes it one of the easiest platforms for phishers to target. ![]() Here's our summary of the most common scams currently circulating Google Chat: But cons aren't just focused around the nine till five, with romance and sextortion scams also becoming more prevalent on the app in recent years. Scams take a variety of forms: some grifters send chat requests to users directly, while others try and move conversations to Google Chat from social media sites to take advantage of the app's lackluster security settings.ĭue to the platform's overwhelmingly professional clientele, Google Chat scams tend to mirror cons spotted on other sites like LinkedIn. Google Chat scams refer to any type of cybercrime that takes place on the Workspace platform.
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