As annoying as email spam can be, Google does a reasonable job of filtering junk away from our inboxes. My spam folder may be overflowing, but at least it isn’t getting in the way of the real email I actually need to see. Unfortunately, when one door closes, scammers are always on the lookout for an open window, and they seem to have found one earlier this year in the form of Google Calendar, which is being used to spam countless users.
As Android Police reported in June, scammers have found a way to exploit one of the Google Calendar app’s default settings, allowing them to add events to your personal calendar without you having to accept the event invite. These “events” are typically just malicious links and misspelled messages about winning money.
It has been over two months since that initial report, and, anecdotally, I’ve received two or three spam invites on my Calendar app in that time. It wasn’t entirely clear how widespread the problem had become, but it apparently affected enough users that Google decided it was worth making a statement, which it did on its support site:
We’re aware of the spam occurring in Calendar and are working diligently to resolve this issue. We’ll post updates to this thread as they become available. Learn how to report and remove spam. Thank you for your patience.
If you don’t want to click through to the explanation for how to report and remove spam from Google Calendar, it’s very simple. Just open Google Calendar on your computer, double click on the spam event, and at the top, click More Actions > Report as Spam. All of the events will automatically be removed. Here’s hoping that a more permanent fix from Google rolls out sooner than later, as the spam can be incredibly intrusive.
