Google Calendar users are being hassled by nefariously placed spam being spread through a sneaky trick that lets anyone place an event in your calendar.
Google Calendar has long had the functionality for events to be automatically placed on your calendar. The features are meant to save you some time by recognising you have an event coming up via other sources – such as Gmail.
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According to 9to5Google, the issue has flared up of late due to an influx of spam scams placing “iPhone X Max is here” events in user calendars.
The cheeky trick is done through invitations to events. Invites sent directly to Google Calendar and via Gmail turn up in your calendar regardless of whether you plan on attending.
The feature is handy for events you are actually interested in but it’s being exploited.
How to stop Google Calendar spam events?
To stop Google Calendar from adding invitations to your calendar:
- Head to Google Calendar
- Click on the gear symbol in the top right-hand corner, then click Settings
- Find Automatically add invitations, click on it and select No, only show invitations to which I have responded
To stop event invitations sent through Gmail appearing in your calendar:
- Return to Settings
- Select Events from Gmail
- Deselect the checkbox Automatically add events from Gmail to my calendar
Having to turn off these features is not ideal as they can be really helpful if they were used correctly. Unfortunately, the above steps still aren’t enough to remove the existence of spam events.
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You still need to get rid of the appearance of declined events in your calendar. Find View Options and uncheck Show declined events.
Google services were just named in a report stating the apps are being increasingly used by cybercriminals to target users during popular events. The report – written by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky – cited Google Photos and Calendar as two apps singled out for attacks.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.