The security of Gmail has always been one of its biggest selling points, but now one of its most important new security features is actively being used by hackers to scam users

Introduced last month, the Gmail checkmark system highlights verified companies and organizations to users with a blue checkmark. The idea is to help users discern which emails are legitimate and which may have been sent by impersonators running scams. Unfortunately, scammers have tricked the system.

it’s already being exploited

Last month, Google introduced a Twitter-style blue checkmark for verified brands in Gmail. This means that anyone with the “Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) in Gmail” would have the trust of their users who would then know that the sender was, in fact, the real deal instead of an imposter.