An email saying Google ID: Profile Inaccurate pretending to come from Google Support [[email protected]] is a phishing attempt.
One of the major common subjects in this sort of phishing attempt is Your password will expire soon or update your email or your profile is inaccurate or needs updating or something very similar.
This one wants your Google Account log in details, name, credit/debit card, birthdate, address, telephone etc. In fact just about everything that will identify you & take over your accounts and identity.
We all get very blasé about phishing and think we know so much that we will never fall for a phishing attempt. Don’t assume that all attempts are obvious. Watch for any site that invites you to enter ANY personal, log in or financial information. It might be an email that says “you have won a prize” or “sign up to this website for discounts, prizes and special offers”
Please read our How to protect yourselves page for simple, sensible advice on how to avoid being infected by this sort of socially engineered malware.
The original email looks like:
From: Google Support [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 15 November 2021 13:30 To:[REDACTED]
Subject: Google ID: Profile Inaccurate
[redacted] Account Notice
Please confirm your Google Account [redacted]
We have attempted to get in touch with you on three previous occasions with reference to the European Commissions eID service Regulation (EU) N°910/2014 that requires us ‘Google Inc’ to check the authenticity of Google users in Europe. Because your Google account [redacted] has now passed the deadline it’s at risk of termination within 48 hours unless you review your details.
We apologize for any inconivnece this may cause but unless this is addressed your Google account [redacted] will be suspended pending deletion from all Google services.
Confirm Google Account
Forgot your password? Reset it now
Sincerely, Google Support Team
© 2021 Google Inc. 3488 Amphitheatre Drive, Mountain View, CA 41845 You [redacted] have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google product or account .
The webpage behind the links is a very believable attempt to impersonate Google http://googleaccountmanagement.net/kyc/[email protected]
If you are unwise enough to follow the link you see a webpage looking like:
Which is a very good imitation of a genuine Google sign in page. The website url http://googleaccountmanagement.net can very easily be mistaken for a genuine Google site
If you do fill in the details you get sent on to the next page
All of these emails use Social engineering tricks to persuade you to follow the links or open the attachments that come with the email. Whether it is a message saying “look at this picture of me I took last night” and it appears to come from a friend or is more targeted at somebody who regularly is likely to receive PDF attachments or Word .doc attachments or any other common file that you use every day. Or whether it is a straightforward attempt, like this one, to steal your personal, bank, credit card or email and social networking log in details.
Be very careful when following links or unzipping attachments and make sure you have “show known file extensions enabled“, And then look carefully at the unzipped file. If it says .EXE then it is a problem and should not be run or opened.