Prevent & report phishing attacks

A phishing attack happens when someone tries to trick you into sharing personal information online.

How phishing works

Phishing is typically done through email, ads, or by sites that look similar to sites you already use. For example, you might get an email that looks like it’s from your bank asking you to confirm your bank account number.

Information phishing sites may ask for

• Usernames and passwords
• Social Security numbers
• Bank account numbers
• PINs (Personal Identification Numbers)
• Credit card numbers
• Your mother’s maiden name
• Your birthday

Report phishing sites

Report phishing sites you found on the web

If you think you found a phishing site, reporting the phishing page.

Report a phishing site that showed up in your Google Search ads

If a phishing site showed up as a sponsored link on your search results page, report the site by contacting AdWords.

Report a site or email address that pretended to be Google

Learn how to avoid and report Google scams.

File a government complaint against a phishing site

Learn how to file a government complaint about a suspicious site.

Avoid phishing attacks

Be careful anytime you receive a message from a site asking for personal information. If you get this type of message, don’t provide the information requested without confirming that the site is legitimate. If possible, open the site in another window instead of clicking the link in your email.

Google will never send unsolicited messages asking for your password or other personal information.

More ways to protect yourself from phishing

• Phishing detection in Chrome

• Common Google-related phishing scams