Gmail keeps as many as eighteen million coronavirus phishing emails from reaching you every day, confirms Google’s official blog post dated from Thursday.
Coronavirus phishing emails or the COVID-19 related scams have been one of the most conspicuous effects of coronavirus on human lives, besides the far-reaching impact on the global economy and public healthcare systems. Irrespective of the size and location of a software company, today, it is facing increased pressure to keep its customers out of trouble arising from COVID-19 scams.
Despite a series of warnings and alerts released by the likes of FBI and London Police, who are doing their bit in raising the awareness surrounding this issue, the number of coronavirus phishing scams keeps increasing day after day.
According to Google, Gmail blocks millions of malware and phishing emails concerning COVID-19 each day. Besides, it also keeps more than two hundred and forty coronavirus-related spam emails from reaching the public. Unfortunately, these numbers are only growing.
From blackmailing attempts, unwarranted cryptocurrency donations to work from home scams, there is no denying that the fraudsters are merely exploiting the fear and trepidation set off by the unceasing coronavirus outbreak.
To make matters worse, there are issues concerning widespread panic buying and investing and a sudden surge of charitable actions that are creating a kind of a “perfect storm” for these scammers.
And as governments across the globe are hastily distributing stimulus packages in an attempt to ease the economic and health impact, malicious actors are leveraging the lack of supervision and a sense of urgency to deceive incautious people.
Thus, although Google is doing its bit by blocking a massive number of coronavirus phishing emails daily, it says that it can only do so much to mitigate the risks. A lot still depends on the awareness and consciousness.
Hackers making the most of the opportunity
According to the announcement, hackers are finding innovative ways to masquerade the identity of prominent health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to seek unwarranted donations or circulate their malware.
Some are even impersonating government agencies and banking institutions to prey on people, who are awaiting their stimulus money or complying with lockdown orders, by soliciting their account details.
Exercise utmost caution, Google
Thus, Google is requesting people to avoid unrecognized opening files, use the in-built document reviewer that automatically prevents the malware from entering the system, and cross-verifying the source of the hyperlink.
If anyone finds anything fishy with an email, app, or software, he or she can tackle the issue by reporting it as spam, thus enabling Google to prevent similar messages from appearing in the future.
Although Google confirms that its team is working day and night to safeguard its customers from potential risks from coronavirus phishing emails, hacks and malware attacks, it urges the users to take necessary yet highly effective security measures to keep everyone safe amid these tough times.
