Google Docs Scam: Watch Out For Suspicious Phishing Emails

NEW YORK, NY — Watch out for an unsolicited or unexpected email invitation to open Google Docs — this may mean you're the target of a phishing scam that swept quickly across the internet Wednesday. The email will likely come from someone you know and should be deleted immediately, unless you can confirm it was sent intentionally.

Many journalists began pointing out the scam on Twitter, and reports suggested that members of Congress were also affected as well as students at many universities. It's not entirely clear what the intent of the scam is or what all of its effects are.

Google sent out a tweet warning users about the scam.

"We are investigating a phishing email that appears as Google Docs," it said. "We encourage you to not click through & report as phishing within Gmail."

Victims of the scam said clicking through to the link brings up a request to use your Gmail account. If you grant it, it spams every one of your contacts with the phishing email — which explains how the scam spread so quickly.

New York Magazine's Jake Swearingen offers this advice if you were a victim of the scam and clicked on the link:

1. Go to your Gmail account’s permissions settings at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.
2. Remove permissions for “Google Docs,” the name of the phishing scam.

Swearingen says that the scam does not appear to introduce malware to the computer itself, so getting rid of its permissions to access your Google accounts will be sufficient protection.

Photo credit: Google Docs Screenshot