Not every account security email you receive is legitimate. And if you see an email from Google in your Gmail inbox, think twice. There's a new Gmail scam going around — and it looks like it's coming straight from Google.
Your Next Google Security Email Could Be a Scam
The campaign was discovered after developer Nick Johnson received a complex phishing email that appeared to come from Google. In a thread on X, Johnson explained that the email was sent from [email protected] and that it passed Google's DKIM signature check, meaning it was signed by accounts.google.com.
Because the email was signed from a legitimate Google website, Gmail did not raise any warnings. It stated that a subpoena had been sent to Google LLC asking the company to provide a copy of the recipient's Google account contents.
The email contains a sites.google.com link to a fake support page. This fake page displays the status of a forensic investigation report with a document review attached and two buttons to upload additional documents or view the case. Clicking any of these buttons takes you to another fake login page also hosted on sites.google.com.
Johnson doesn’t take it any further, but it’s safe to assume that the fake login page is there to collect your Google account credentials before redirecting you to a real Google page or page to avoid detection. Since you’re already logged in to check your Gmail and therefore see the notification, most Google pages will automatically open even if you enter your password, creating the illusion of a real login.
While the fake login page is an exact copy of the real Google page, you can easily tell the difference between the two if you look at the URL of the page. Legitimate Google login pages are hosted on accounts.google.com instead of sites.google.com. There are also two main red flags in the phishing email.
First, the email header shows that while the email is signed by accounts.google.com, it originated from a privateemail.com address and was sent to "[email protected]" . The second clue lies at the bottom of the email, where there is a lot of white space followed by text that says "Google Legal Support has been granted access to your Google account" , followed by the email address mentioned above.
Google domains become scam playgrounds
Given that the phishing email appears to originate from a legitimate Google site, the average Gmail user would think nothing of following the instructions provided in the email. Additionally, since the fake pages are hosted on sites.google.com , people will see the legitimate google.com domain and assume the page is real.
Google Sites is a legitimate service from Google that allows you to quickly create your own website and host it on a Google domain. While it is a handy tool, it allows users to run external scripts and embeds of their choice, which is a major security risk.
Using this service also makes it incredibly easy to create phishing pages. Even if a page is taken down by Google’s anti-abuse team, scammers can quickly put up another one in a short period of time. Email, however, is a bigger security concern for Google.
Johnson reported the email bug to Google, but the company closed the issue, stating that the feature worked as expected and adding that it did not consider it a security issue. This means we could see similar campaigns in the future. Keeping malicious emails out is one of the reasons people are abandoning Gmail for a more security-focused alternative.
Until Google gets things right, make sure you keep an eye on such emails. If in doubt, check the subject line and body of the email for any strange email addresses or unusual text that wouldn’t appear in an official email.
Whether you're taking your first steps into the workforce or transitioning to a new industry, Google's experimental Career Dreamer is designed to connect you with compatible roles.
Last year, Google introduced an AI-powered shopping assistant in Search that allows users to get a visual idea of how a piece of clothing would look on a specific body type.
Google has been increasingly showing interest in the field of artificial intelligence applications in medicine.
After a few days of confusion, Google has officially confirmed the issue with both the second-generation Chromecast and Chromecast Audio.
On Monday, internal documents describing the factors Google Search considers when ranking and displaying web results were leaked.
Google is gradually phasing out its old voice recognition technology and replacing it with its virtual assistant Assistant.
Samsung Electronics has announced plans to integrate Eclipsa Audio, a brand new 3D audio technology, developed through a partnership with Google, into its 2025 lineup of TVs and soundbars.
Google today announced six new features coming to Android smartphones.
Security and privacy are increasingly becoming major concerns for smartphone users in general.
Many people have been trying for a long time to see if they can actually replace Google with the ChatGPT Search Chrome extension.
It has been a long time coming and the day has finally come. People are reporting that their old Manifest v2 extension is being removed from Chrome. So what happens now?
This latest update introduces improvements related to the camera, audio and visual tools, and most importantly, Gemini, Google's AI assistant.
If you love Google services, these lesser-known apps can add surprising value to your device.
Google has decided to end its long-standing partnership with Qualcomm and instead use MediaTek's T900 modem in the Pixel 10 series.
Perplexity’s regular search engine is great, but its Social Search feature leaves a lot to be desired. Before Perplexity can even think about competing with Google in this area, it needs these new features.
To get the fastest promotional information from Circle K, you should install the CK Club application. The application saves your payments when shopping or paying at Circle K as well as the number of stamps collected.
Instagram has just announced that it will allow users to post Reels videos up to 3 minutes long, double the previous 90-second limit.
This article will guide you how to view CPU information, check CPU speed directly on your Chromebook.
If you don't want to sell or give away your old tablet, you can use it in 5 ways: as a high-quality photo frame, music player, e-book & magazine reader, housework assistant, and as a secondary screen.
You want to have a beautiful, shiny, healthy nail quickly. The simple tips for beautiful nails below will be useful for you.
This article will list color-inspired tips, shared by top designers from the Creative Market community, so you can get the perfect color combination every time.
Can you really replace your laptop with your phone? Yes, but you'll need the right accessories to turn your phone into a laptop.
One important thing in the full event video was that the upcoming ChatGPT app feature was demoed but no real details were shared. That is, ChatGPT's ability to see everything that's happening on the user's device screen.
Many top AIs, despite being trained to be honest, learn to deceive through training and systematically induce users into false beliefs, a new study finds.
ChatGPT now has a question change option so users can edit the question or content they are exchanging with ChatGPT.
QR codes seem pretty harmless until you scan a bad one and get something nasty thrown at you. If you want to keep your phone and data safe, there are a few ways you can spot a fake QR code.
On stage at MWC 2025, Qualcomm made a splash when it introduced its eighth generation of 5G modem called the X85, which is expected to be used in flagship smartphones launching later this year.
You have a trendy “Ultramarine” iPhone 16, but one fine day you suddenly feel bored with that color; what will you do?
In January, Microsoft announced plans to bring NPU-optimized versions of the DeepSeek-R1 model directly to Copilot+ computers running on Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors.
The IF statement is a common logical function in Excel. The SWITCH statement is less well known, but you can use it instead of the IF statement in some situations.
