There’s a new warning for consumers who use Google’s popular calendar app as scammers are trying to trick users into giving up their personal information. NBC 5’s Lisa Parker responds with tips you might want to follow.
There’s a new warning for consumers who use Google’s popular calendar app as scammers are trying to trick users into giving up their personal information.
Experts say more than one billion Google Calendar users could be targeted in the scam, which all starts with an invitation.
Users have recently reported getting odd and unexpected invites, which pop up as a notification in Google’s app. Once users click an invite, they are taken to a page requesting some of their personal information.
In an online forum, Google said it is working diligently to resolve the issue, saying in a statement the company is “deeply committed to protecting our users from spam” and is “investing in new ways for users to identify and block spammers.”
What can you do to prevent fake invites from popping in?
You can change your setting to keep invites you haven’t accepted from automatically being added to your calendar.
Here’s how:
U.S. & World
1. Open Google Calendar on your computers (calendar.google.com)
2. Click on the settings menu in the top right
3. In the “general” tab, click Event Settings > Automatically add invitations
4. Select, “No, only show invitations to which I have responded.”
5. Scroll down to the “View Options” section and uncheck the box that says “Show declined events.”
