My Gmail Inbox Is Filled With Spam Linking to Google Groups

You certainly have to hand it to the spammers – they are nothing if not resourceful. I have no idea how they’re doing this, but lately I’ve been getting tons (and I mean tons) of spam in my Gmail inbox. Not my Spam folder but my actual inbox. Although my email address is publicly available, it wasn’t until recently that I’ve actually seen spam in my inbox – usually, the Gmail spam filter kept most of it out of sight. Well, no more, it seems.

The latest tactic appears to be using Google’s own Groups to bypass the spam filter. I guess Google doesn’t like to block links to their own sites.

The emails will resemble the following:

The email address will (appear to) be from someone at Yahoo. And despite the fact that the subject line has the word “Viagra” in it – a clear indication to most spam filters about the nature of this email – the email doesn’t not get blocked.

Why’s that? I imagine it’s because the body of the email contains a link to groups.google.com – a site where the spammers are apparently taking up residence.

I clicked one of the links (I know, I don’t need a lecture about how dangerous that was); I just had to investigate. The page really does look like a real Google Groups page, albeit one with a splashy intro page. In fact, the URL in the address even reads http://groups.google.com/group/spammy_name_of_group_here:

So, is that how it’s going to be, huh? Google is letting the spammers come through because it’s driving pageviews to Google Groups? Not cool, Google, not cool.