Urgent warning to online users about Google’s widespread email scam promising a prize
- Google users were urged to remove scam email from their Gmail inboxes
- The email claims that a user has completed the “18.25 billionth search.”
Google has issued an urgent warning to ignore scammers trying to reach unsuspecting targets with a prize.
Users of Google’s email service, Gmail, have been told to watch out for and delete a scam email claiming the company is offering a ‘prize’ for making the ‘18.25 billionth search through its search engine.
To claim the prize, users must complete a survey asking for the target’s personal information and credit card details.
The scam is the most recent iteration of the “billionth search” variant, with previous attempts to use pop-up or banner ads to trick targets.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 65 per cent of Australians had received some sort of scam offer or solicitation during the 2021-2022 financial year.
Google users have been urged to delete a scam email from their Gmail inbox claiming they will be awarded a prize for completing the ‘18.25 billionth’ search on their search engine (pictured)
To identify the scam, Gmail users should look for an email claiming “Congratulations! You are the lucky Google user’.
“Every 10 millionth search is reached globally, we will call out one lucky user to send a thank you,” the scam email reads.
‘Based on our last 7 days’ [sic] user data, you are the lucky user!
Select your reward below and claim it by following the instructions [sic].’
Google has warned that ads or emails from the company do not contain price offers.
The company advises users to report emails featuring sweepstakes, raffles, or similar tactics.
Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams over the course of 2022, with investment, remote access and payment redirection scams being the most damaging.
“As scammers become more sophisticated in their tactics, it is clear that a coordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector is essential to combat scams more effectively,” said Catriona Lowe, Vice President of the ACCC.
Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022 due to more ‘sophisticated’ attacks, but more Australians are reporting scams to authorities (stock image)
As scammers target Australians to a greater extent, more scams are being reported to authorities.
“Results from The Personal Fraud Survey showed that 65 percent of people received a scam offer or request in 2021-2022, up from 55 percent in the previous year,” said William Milne, ABS’s chief of crime and justice.
While more people were exposed to scams this year, we found that the number of people who responded to scams fell to 552,000.
“The survey shows that 2.7 per cent of Australians responded to a scam in 2021-22, up from 3.6 per cent in 2020-21.”