Billions of Gmail users warned to never reply to common e-mail – the danger is too great
AN OFFICIAL Google memo reveals one type of email that you should never reply to.
If you’re a regular Gmail user, you’ll want to follow the advice.
Many Gmail users know what spam or dangerous emails look like – and it’s often sent to a Junk folder before it ever reaches you.
But some malicious emails can come from a trusted contact, which makes it much harder to spot.
If you receive a suspicious email from someone you know, you must not reply to it.
“If someone on your contacts list sends you spam, a hacker might have taken over their account,” Google warned.
“Don’t respond to the email.”
If you reply, you could tip the scammer off.
And the person you’re warning might never receive your message – because the hacker controls the account.
Instead, you need to try contacting them using a different method.
“Let your contact know by another means (for example, phone or instant message) that their email account might be hacked,” Google warned.
It’s best if you can physically tell them in person.
But if not, you’ll want to try calling them – or texting, if calling doesn’t work.
This can give the person a heads-up that they need to recover their account.
Once that’s done, you should also report the email in the app.
This can allow Gmail to investigate what happened, and hopefully stop it from taking place again.
“To report the email, in the spam alert, click Message Looks Suspicious,” Google advised.
“This action sends a report to the Gmail team to investigate. You continue to get email from this contact in the future.”
If you act fast, you could save other people from being scammed.
And you may help a friend, family member or colleague get their account back before anything more serious happens to it.