Report Phishing/Spam Email to Google

Question

I received a suspicious email that I am certain is spam/phishing, what should I do with it?

Environment

• Gmail

Information

Phishing is a deceptive tactic employed by cybercriminals to trick users into divulging confidential information, such as usernames, passwords, and birthdates, under the guise of a trustworthy entity. These malicious actors pose as legitimate contacts to gain access to sensitive data, which they then exploit for identity theft and other illicit activities. 

Spam refers to unsolicited or unwanted messages sent in bulk via email, typically for commercial purposes, often containing advertisements and promotions. These are sometimes malicious but more often considered emails unaffiliated to GRCC that you may find aggravating.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8253?hl=en

Resolution

Most phishing and spoofing attempts are caught by security filters Google has created, however this is not a perfect system. If you believe a suspicious email was not filtered away from your inbox when it should have been, the steps below will safely move the message to your spam folder while also sending it to Google's security team for further investigation. The steps below will help prevent future phishing attempts.

Report a Phishing Attempt:

1. Open Gmail in a web browser.
2. Open the message you suspect is a Phishing attempt.
3. Next to Reply , click More .
4. Click Report phishing.

If you marked an email as a Phishing attempt by accident, follow these steps:

1. Verify the source of the email is, in fact who they claim.
2. Open Gmail in a web broswer.
3. Open the message from your Spam folder.
4. Next to Reply , click More .
5. Click Report not phishing.

Note: At this time, if you are using a mobile device to report a phishing email, the only option is to Report spam which will also be sufficient.