This morning started with a call from a friend – clearly shaken. He had just received an alarming email that looked strikingly legitimate. Unsure whether it was safe or a scam, he reached out to me for help verifying its authenticity.
What followed was a deep dive into the message to determine whether it was a genuine communication or a cleverly crafted phishing attempt. The email was convincing enough to create real concern, and that’s what makes this story worth sharing.
This was the email:
The email claimed that a subpoena had been issued by law enforcement requesting the extraction (access/download) of the contents of his Google Account.
What made the situation even more alarming was that the email appeared to come from a legitimate Google no-reply address. On the surface, everything looked clean – no typos, no odd links, and the sender domain seemed genuine. But something felt off, and that gut feeling is often your first line of defense.
Digging Deeper: Investigating the Suspicious Email
Curious and concerned, I examined the email headers and link previews in a sandbox environment, a secure setup isolated from production systems, specifically designed for this kind of research. On the surface, everything appeared to check out:
The sender address looked like an official Google no-reply domain
looked like an official Google no-reply domain The branding and language were polished and professional
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