Fraudsters are using Google's Calendar service as a means to develop a new strain of phishing scam.

The ruse appears in the guise of a Google Calendar email notification. Would-be marks are told their accounts will be deleted unless they submit their Google username, password and date of birth.

But rather than coming from Google's “Customer Varifaction” (sic) department the bogus emails come from fraudsters looking to extract login information.

Phishing fraudsters set up a Gmail accounts in order to set up the scam, which is slightly more credible than many because unwary punters are invited to submit information to Google's website. In addition, Google inserts the real name of the recipient in email invitations, further boosting their credibility of the fraudulent approach.

On the other hand the fact that scam emails appear to come from an address in the form customerserviceXXXX@gmail.com (where XXXX is a four digit number) exposes the dodgy provenance of the emails.

The tactic first appeared in the summer before reappearing again last week. A full write-up of the scam - including copies of the fraudulent emails - can be found in a blog entry by Graham Cluley of Sophos here. ®