Sophos warns spammers are sending out fake Google+ invites

Only a week since it went live, spammers have already begun to hijack Google's new social networking platform, by sending out fake invites.

Google+ is still in the trial phase and participation is by invite only at the moment. The invites are rare, which has led to people begging on sites such as Twitter for someone to send them an invite. This has played straight into the criminals' hands.

The fake invites to join Google+ look very like the genuine invitations, clicking on the links in the email will take the victim to Canadian Family Pharmacy, not Google+.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security company Sophos said: "The spammers are no doubt hoping that the email will be hard to resist, as many people are eager to see what is being billed as Google's answer to Facebook.

"It's unclear just how many users will be tempted to buy drugs online, however research shows that last year alone, 36 million Americans bought drugs from online pharmacies, so this is a technique that is clearly continuing to work for spammers."

"Many people will be keen to try the latest social network, but you should always be wary of clicking on links in unsolicited emails."

Cluley also warned people to consider the privacy issues once they do sign up for Google+

"Once you are on Google+, you should continue to think about the volume of information that you're willing to share online and take a close look at the Google+ Privacy Policy and Mobile Privacy Policy to understand how your information might be used by Google or third parties," he added.