Avoid and report phishing emails
Learn how to spot deceptive requests online and take recommended steps to help protect your Gmail and Google Account.
What phishing is
Phishing is an attempt to steal personal information or break in to online accounts using deceptive emails, messages, ads, or sites that look similar to sites you already use. For example, a phishing email might look like it's from your bank and request private information about your bank account.
Phishing messages or content may:
- Ask for your personal or financial information.
- Ask you to click links or download software.
- Impersonate a reputable organization, like your bank, a social media site you use, or your workplace.
- Impersonate someone you know, like a family member, friend, or coworker.
- Look exactly like a message from an organization or person you trust.
Report a phishing email
When we identify that an email may be phishing or suspicious, we might show a warning or move the email to Spam. If an email wasn't marked correctly, follow the steps below to mark or unmark it as phishing.
When you manually move an email into your Spam folder, Google will receive a copy of the email and may analyze it to help protect our users from spam and abuse.
- On a computer, go to Gmail.
- Open the message.
- Next to Reply, click More.
- Click Report phishing.