Scammers deploy AI to better trick e-mail users: The advice from Google in light of these more advanced attacks

AI poses a significant threat to email accounts as scammers and hackers increasingly exploit this technology. Google, which serves over 2.5 billion users with its email services, is working to enhance security measures for its users.

Scammers target the wrong G-mail user

One of the more advanced scam posing as Google Support was identified by Zach Latta, a coder and found of Hack Club, who received a security alert and a phone call from what appeared to be the Gmail support team.

For those who have had their Google account hacked or used a VPN, you may have received one of these security alerts that use a standard template.

Latta posted about the attack on GitHub, describing the message as “the most sophisticated phishing attack I’ve ever seen.”

The attack began as a phone call to Latta’s personal number with the Caller ID coming up as Google. Not every day that you get a call from the internet search giant so Latta picked it up. On the other end of the line was a voice with an American accent that identified itself as Chole, a representative from Google Workspace and wanted to report to Latta that “someone had recently gained access to [his] account” from Frankfurt, Germany. Though helpful, the coder became suspicious and asked Chole to send him an e-mail “from a Google email” so that he could verify that he was, in fact, speaking to the company. Chole did send through an e-mail, but there were certain aspects about the address that gave Latta pause. He became suspicious and after speaking with various members of the team, attempting to gather information on the possible scam, he cut ties with what he believes was a hacking team using AI.

Google responds to hacking stories

As scammers begin to use emerging technology to their benefit, companies will have to bolster security to protect the data of their users. In response to Latta’s attack and other stories circulating online, Google said that they had “not seen evidence that this is a wide-scale tactic.” However, Forbes noted that while this attack was very sophisticated, less advanced versions have been deployed on a massive scale. The company has also made clear that it will never make a call to a user after a suspected attack on their account. Think about the billions of Gmail accounts, the millions of attempts to hack into those accounts, and the number of calls Google would have to make on a daily or even hourly basis.

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