Shock Gmail and PayPal alert lets crooks empty your bank as one savvy target cheers ‘thank god I was paying attention'
Find out how to protect yourself below
MAIL FAIL Shock Gmail and PayPal alert lets crooks empty your bank as one savvy target cheers 'thank god I was paying attention'
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GOOGLE and PayPal users have been warned of a convincing new scam that allows hackers to raid their accounts.
Cyber crooks have found a way to send out alarming emails that look like they're from the two companies.
1
Google user notice something peculiar about the email
Credit: X
One of the key checks people often look out for to tell if an email is a con trick is the email address of the sender.
Users have come forward sharing screenshots of emails from "no-reply@google.com" that appear to be genuine.
But it turns out that online criminals have found a way to mimic Google's email addresses.
Those behind it pulled the vicious ruse off using Google's free Sites web-building app to create fake pages that look convincing.
The communications are presented as important subpoenas issued to Google by law enforcement demanding "information contained in your Google Account".
Andrew Chen, who received one of the emails, wrote on X: "just got this phishing attempt.
"Thank god I was paying attention."
Last month, a similar technique was used to try and fool PayPal users, reports Bleeping Computer.
In a statement to The Verge, Google said it had now "shut down" the loophole.
"We're aware of this class of targeted attack from this threat actor, and have rolled out protections to shut down this avenue for abuse," the firm said.
Protect your bank accounts: Enable Google's identity check today
"In the meantime, we encourage users to adopt two-factor authentication and passkeys, which provide strong protection against these kinds of phishing campaigns."
Two-factor authentication is becoming increasingly popular and can involve you needing a password and a passcode that's texted to you.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has previously predicted that passwords will be obsolete one day and stronger security will be needed.
You still technically need a password to use multi-step authentication on Google but that's only step number one.
Once you've entered a password, you'll then be sent a one time code to your smartphone.
You'll then have to enter to gain access to a Google Account.
This make things more difficult for hackers because they not only need your password but they would somehow need access to your phone too.
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Social media platforms are doing better than ever. Some popular sites with paywalls are thriving. What is about to change is how people find and discover information online. It's the "open web" that some fear is at risk – the ecosystem of freely accessible independent websites, where people and businesses, often called "publishers", share information, images and video. We've heard this before, however. A Wired magazine cover declared "The web is dead" in 2010, yet here we are. Smartphones, apps and social media have all sparked doomsday predictions about the World Wide Web. But following Google's announcement in May, the BBC spoke to over a dozen experts who say AI Mode poses an unprecedented threat to the digital economy. "I think 'extinction' is too strong of a word for what's going to happen to websites," says Barry Adams, founder of the SEO firm Polemic Digital. "'Decimation' is the right word." Google disagrees. In fact, the company tells the BBC that AI Overviews have been good for the web, and AI Mode will be no different. Google insists these features send users to "a greater diversity of websites" and the traffic is "higher quality" because people spend more time on the links they click. However, the company hasn't provided data to back up these claims. Google has an AI guide for curious publishers, but it hasn't give websites a clear picture of how AI Overviews affect them. Google did not respond to questions on this point. And what Google doesn't deny, at least not outright, is that these AI tools reduce the total amount traffic that Search sends out to the web. Critics say it's simple – AI Overviews and AI Mode both include links to sources, but if AI gives you the answer you're looking for, why would you bother to click? Data seems to support that logic. (Don't believe me? Ask Google's AI.) Numerous analyses have found that AI Overviews appear to cut the amount of traffic Google sends to websites – known as the "click-through rate" – by between 30% and 70%, depending on what people are searching for. Analyses have also found that some 60% of Google searches are now "zero-click", ending without the user visiting a single link. Experts believe that some version of AI Mode will soon become the default, and that would supercharge the effects AI has on traffic because it completely does away with the traditional list of links. "I expect that the amount of clicks that go from Google's AI Mode to the web will be about half, and that's in the optimistic scenario," says Adams. "I think a lot of users will just be happy with what the AI gives them. It could be the difference between having a viable publishing business and going bankrupt. For a lot of publishers, it will be that dramatic." This isn't just about a bunch of bloggers losing their jobs. 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But Navarro says the whims of social media algorithms are even more fickle, and the platforms force creators to sacrifice depth and detail in favour of showmanship. "There's no incentive to build the same high-quality content," Navarro says. "Everything becomes about monetisation and transition, and it forces you to inform less and sell more." Across the board, Navarro says the loss of autonomy publishers had on the web means lower quality content for you as the audience. There are other search engines people could try instead, of course, although they too are integrating AI into their search tools – Microsoft, for example, has been building AI into its Bing search engine. But Google's smaller competitors have so little market share it's difficult to see them making a dent in the economy – and many are adding their own AI tools. The machine web, if that is where things are going, may be more closed, less diverse and in a real sense, flatter for the people who spend their time online. But some observers aren't panicking. "I'm not worried in the sense that this is all an evolution," says Dame Wendy Hall, a computer science professor at University of Southampton and one of the early pioneers who designed the architecture that was a forerunner of the World Wide Web in the 1980s. "AI is now coming into the equation and it's going to change all the dynamics. I wouldn't want to say exactly what's going to happen," she says. "The web is still there and it's still open. If Google goes this way, some bright spark will come up with a new way of making money. "Something will happen. But I guess for many people along the way, it will be too late." What users want There is little doubt AI Mode is an impressive piece of technology. It deploys a "fan out method" where the AI breaks your question into subtopics and does multiple searches simultaneously. Google says this lets AI Mode recommends more diverse sources, produce deeper answers to more complex queries, dives deeper – and you have the ability to ask follow-up questions. According to Google, reactions to AI Overviews suggest AI Mode will be extremely popular. "As people use AI Overviews, we see they are happier with their results, and they search more often," Pichai said at Google's developer conference. "It's one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade." In other words, Google says this makes Search better and it's what users want. But that's no justification, says Danielle Coffey, president of News/Media Alliance, a trade group representing more than 2,200 journalism and media outlets. (The BBC is a member of the News/Media Alliance.) "This is the definition of theft. The AI answers are a substitute for the original product. They're making money on our content and we get nothing in return," Coffey says. 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"I think you learn more when you do the searching yourself," says Mike King, founder of SEO agency iPullRank. "But a lot of people feel they don't need all that." But AI may come with significant costs. "It's going to create more filter bubbles, because now Google is interpreting that information rather than giving it to you," King says. Research on AI chatbots suggests they have a tendency to act as echo chambers. "The info you expect is going to be reinforced," King says. Then, of course, there are fundamental concerns about the quality of AI answers. Some research suggests AI hallucinations are getting worse as their technical abilities improve. Even Sundar Pichai said on a podcast interview that hallucinations are "an inherent feature" of the technology – though Google is using its traditional search methods to ground AI responses, and the company says accuracy is improving. Google tells the BBC the vast majority of AI search responses are factual, and their accuracy is on par with other Search features. Still, early slip ups – like the times when Google's AI Overviews told people to eat rocks and add glue to pizza recipes – linger in the public consciousness. Google jumps to fix errors, but on a recent Thursday in 2025, one year into AI Overviews, the AI said it wasn't Thursday and it wasn't 2025. My mistake. Research suggests that AI could even produce an echo-chamber effect with the very misinformation it hallucinates – something computer scientists have coined "chat chambers". A Google spokesperson says its AI is designed to match your interests without limiting what you find on the web. While the spectre of the machine web is disquieting for many who build and depend on the internet, Google paints a different, vibrant picture. "You will see us five years from now sending a lot of traffic out to the web. I think that's the product direction we are committed to," Pichai told Decoder. Google tells the BBC its vision is one where AI enhances search, builds on the types of questions users can ask, and ultimately expands opportunities to create and discover content, albeit in potentially different ways. "I'm not going to predict what is going to happen, because, of course, the future is multifactorial," says Cory Doctorow, a longtime technology advocate and writer of the upcoming book Enshittification about the decay of online platforms. "But, if I were still someone who valued Google as a way to find information or to have my information found, I'd be really worried about this." But he also feels it could be a moment for internet users to push for the changes they want to see. "It's a crisis we shouldn't let go to waste," says Doctorow. "Google's about to do something that's going to make people really angry. My first thought is 'Okay, great. What can we do to capitalise on that anger?' It's a chance to build a coalition." More like this:• The hidden world beneath the shadows of YouTube's algorithm• The Ghosts of India's TikTok• The people stuck using ancient Windows computers Some aren't waiting for Google's vision to materialise or for regulators to act. Matthew Prince of Cloudflare is championing direct intervention. His plan is to have Cloudflare and a consortium of publishers of all sizes collectively block AI crawlers unless tech companies pay for the content. It's an audacious bid to "reset the norms of what's allowed online" and force Silicon Valley to negotiate for the data that fuels their models. (Google did not respond to questions about this proposal.) "My very optimistic version," Prince says, "is one where humans get content for free and bots have to pay a tonne for it." Navarro says it's hard not to feel nostalgic for what might be lost, even if something new and great might come in its place. "That web is what happens when a bunch of people connect on the topics they care about," she says, reminiscing about a Spanish language fan site she created as a child for the rock band Queen. "I went searching for Queen but there wasn't a lot of content about the band at the time in Spanish. So I went and started making it, adding something to the web when I was 10 years old because I felt I could just do that. "I want to believe that this isn't the end." * Thomas Germain is a senior technology journalist for the BBC. He's covered AI, privacy and the furthest reaches of internet culture for the better part of a decade. You can find him on X and TikTok @thomasgermain. -- For more technology news and insights, sign up to our Tech Decoded newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights to your inbox twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Record
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