Phishing scams targeting crypto users have become more advanced, with attackers abusing Google’s infrastructure to conduct highly convincing attacks.
On April 16, Nick Johnson, the founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service (ENS), raised concerns over a fresh method cybercriminals use to compromise Gmail accounts and potentially target associated crypto wallets.
How phishing attackers are using Google to their advantage
According to Johnson, the attackers exploit a loophole in Google’s ecosystem that allows them to send phishing emails that appear genuine security alerts from the tech giant itself.
These emails are signed with valid DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signatures, enabling them to bypass spam filters and appear authentic to recipients.
Once opened, these emails direct users to a counterfeit support portal hosted on a Google subdomain. This fake page prompts victims to log in and upload sensitive documents.
However, Johnson warned that the attackers are likely harvesting credentials, which could compromise Gmail accounts and any services linked to those emails.
The phishing sites are built using Google’s Sites platform, which allows custom scripts and embedded content.
While this flexibility benefits legitimate users, it also allows malicious actors to create convincing phishing portals. Even more concerning is that there’s currently no way to report abuse directly through the Google Sites interface, making it easier for attackers to keep their content online.
He said:
“Google long ago realised that hosting public, user-specified content on google.com is a bad idea, but Google Sites has stuck around. IMO they need to disable scrips and arbitrary embeds in Sites; this is too powerful a phishing vector.”
To further enhance the illusion of legitimacy, the scammers create a Google OAuth application that formats and shares the phishing message. These messages are always complete with structured text and what appears to be contact information for Google Legal Support.
Google’s response
Johnson reported that he submitted a bug report to Google about this vulnerability.
Still, the search engine giant reportedly stated that the features work as intended and do not constitute a security issue.
Johnson wrote:
“I’ve submitted a bug report to Google about this; unfortunately they closed it as ‘Working as Intended’ and explained that they don’t consider it a security bug.”
Nevertheless, he urged Google to consider limiting script and embedding functionality to help prevent future abuse.
This incident highlights the increasing sophistication of phishing campaigns within the crypto space. According to Scam Sniffer, nearly 6,000 users lost around $6.37 million to phishing scams in March 2025 alone. In the first quarter of the year, 22,654 victims suffered total losses of $21.94 million.
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