Google: Spam and Phishing Calendar Events

Environment

Google Calendar

Issue

A suspicious event was added to my Google Calendar. The description of the event may include details indicating that a software or service was purchased or other concerning information in the form of a phishing email. 

Resolution

These unsolicited, suspicious events are generated automatically from phishing emails that you have received in your U-M Gmail account or sent directly via invitation in Google Calendar.

Beyond deleting the event on your calendar, Google has introduced two options to help mitigate these phishing/spam events when they appear:

• Report the event as spam
  • To report an event as spam, it must be sent from Google Calendar (not Gmail). Calendar events created by another provider, app, or service can’t be reported as spam.
  • When you report an event, it's removed from your calendar. If the event recurs, all events in the series are removed.
• Block the account that sent the event
  • You can only block someone from Google Calendar on a computer.
  • You can only block other Google accounts. To block non-Google accounts, block their email address in Gmail.
  • After you block someone, any existing invitations from the blocked user remain on your calendar. If you don’t want the invitations on your calendar, you can delete them manually.

There are also several ways you can prevent future phishing events from being added to your Google Calendar.

Hide or turn off Gmail-generated calendar events

Turning off the "Show events automatically created by Gmail in my calendar" setting in your Google Calendar prevents these automatically generated email events from appearing in your Calendar. This includes phishing emails, as well as legitimate emails, such as dinner or travel reservations.

1. Go to U-M Google Calendar.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings.
3. Click Google Workspace smart features under the General settings list in the left-side navigation.
4. Uncheck the Show events from Gmail box under "Show events automatically created by Gmail in my calendar."
5. Click the OK button to confirm.

To prevent Google Calendar from generating events from emails you receive, turn off all smart features in U-M Google.

1. Go to U-M Google Calendar.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings.
3. Click Google Workspace smart features under the General settings list in the left-side navigation.
4. Click Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
5. Toggle Smart features in Google Workspace to OFF.
6. Click Save.

Add events to Google Calendar only after responding

If you still wish to use the Gmail-generated calendar event smart feature, you can alternatively set Google Calendar to show events only after you respond to the email invitation.

1. Go to U-M Google Calendar.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page, then select Settings.
3. Click Event settings under the General settings list in the left-side navigation.
4. Click the Add invitations to my calendar drop-down menu.
5. Select When I respond to the invitation in email.

Additional Information

• If you would like to report the phishing attempt to U-M, refer to the instructions on the Safe Computing site for guidance on sending the event-related email to ITS.
• More information on managing Calendar events generated from Gmail can be found in the Manage your events from Gmail Google Help Center page.

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.