Currently, cyber scammers and dubious advertisers are sending out numerous Google Calendar invitations. Instead of real appointments, these contain spam messages. We show you how to protect yourself against them.
As if digital diaries weren’t already overcrowded: Resourceful scammers and advertisers are now using Google Calendar to distribute their spam messages that redirect to questionable websites. Even though the phenomenon has existed for a long time, the waves of spam are currently increasing.
A rather practical mechanism plays into the hands of the culprits: if you receive an invitation to an appointment, Google automatically copies it into your calendar. It only becomes impractical when hundreds of spam calendar invitations arrive and you lose track of your appointments.
Be careful: rejecting appointment invitations only makes things worse.
When you decline the invitations to remove the appointment from your calendar, the sender receives a message. This will inform them that your email address even exists and you will probably receive more spam messages.
What to do about the unwanted invitations in your calendar?
- Open your Google Calendar.
- Click on the gear at the top of the screen.
- Now select “Settings.”
- Under “Appointment settings” you will find the item “Automatically add invitations”.
- Now set the checkbox to “No, only show invitations I have responded to.”.
- Now only appointments to which you have replied will be displayed.
