If tapped, the notification takes you directly to a document that contains a very large, tempting link. On mobile, the scam uses the collaboration feature in Google Drive to generate a push notification inviting people to collaborate on a document. The smartest part of the scam is that the emails and notifications it generates come directly from Google. The scam itself is nothing new – messages asking you to click on dodgy links are as old as the internet itself – but could catch a lot of people off guard. A flaw in the Drive is being exploited to send out seemingly legitimate emails and push notifications from Google that, if opened, could land people on malicious websites.

In the interim, users who are experiencing similar issues can remove themselves from the folder, and the folder should not reappear in either “My Drive” or “Shared with Me” unless they revisit it.Scammers just found a new phishing lure to play with: Google Drive. In light of this issue, we are evaluating changes to our spam, abuse, and blocking features that will prevent this kind of activity from taking place on Drive. Unfortunately, this was not the case for this user and we sincerely apologize for her experience.

How the company plans on doing that, however, is still largely unclear.įor the vast majority of users, the default sharing permissions in Drive work as intended. A spokesperson confirmed that making changes to how Google Drive handles sharing, specifically in avoiding spam, is a priority. Making matters worse, there’s really nothing you can do to fix this at the moment. One user which How-To Geek sources notes that a folder their ex controls is still showing in their account. Odds are, it’s not an issue you’ve had much trouble with, but it can be frustrating if it comes up. The “remove” button only hides it from view with the file in question still surfacing in search and other areas. Sharing a file with someone else doesn’t require their permission, and they can’t fully remove all traces of that shared file or folder. The issue, essentially, is that anyone can share any files with you so long as they have your email address, and you can’t fully remove them from your account.

Noted by How-To Geek, Google Drive’s sharing system has had a problem for quite some time that makes it susceptible to spam. However, there’s been a spam issue hiding in plain sight, and now the company intends to fix complaints with Google Drive in this area. Google Drive is an excellent platform not just for storage, but sharing and collaborating on files.

How to prevent google drive spam