Google to filter duplicitous Unicode Homoglyphs as spam in Gmail

Google has announced that it is updating its spam filtering algorithm in Gmail to stay ahead of spammers. Now, duplicitous Unicode Homoglyphs will be added to the spam filter and Gmail will reject emails with suspicious combinations of letters.

This will help to protect users who may otherwise be tempted to click on links with different combinations of letters that may resemble traditional Latin letters:

Scammers can exploit the fact that ဝ, ૦, and ο look nearly identical to the letter o, and by mixing and matching them, they can hoodwink unsuspecting victims. Can you imagine the risk of clicking "ShဝppingSite" vs. "ShoppingSite" or "MyBank" vs. "MyBɑnk"?

Gmail's spam filters will now work on deceptive characters

The new spam filtering will roll out starting today.

The news comes after Google had announced that it would take Gmail more global by now accepting non-Latin characters in Gmail.

Is this a welcomed change for you as a Gmail user?

Source: Google

Chuong H Nguyen