Google Phishing Emails

Working in an online environment can often require you to be cautious about who you share your personal or company information with. We often get asked at 4Ps about whether or not a particular communication from either Google or another organisation is legitimate.

In the case of Google, one such form of communication which appears to pop up frequently is phishing emails. These are messages designed to look as though they are sent from representatives of products such as Google AdWords which you are currently working with, in order to extract billing details or log-in passwords from you. The email may ask you to click on a link to log-in or check the status of your account.

The key with any of these messages is to bear in mind a couple of simple principles:

- If there is any kind of link within the email, don’t click on it if you are unsure where it leads
- If you do accidentally click on a link, any website asking you to input login details should start with https, as this means it is held on a secure site
- Never reply to the email, instead report it to the relevant organisation in question

Google themselves are very clear about what they will and will not send to customers:

‘Please remember that Google’s AdWords team will never send an unsolicited message asking for you to provide your password or other sensitive information by email or through a link’

If you think you may be receiving fraudulent emails or communication from Google, you can report your suspicions to Google direct here.

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