Google Docs users hit by phishing scam

Google says it has stopped a phishing email that reached about a million of its customers.

The scam claimed to come from Google Docs - a service that allows people to share and edit documents online.

Users who clicked a link and followed instructions, risked sending the email on to everyone in their address box.

Google said it had stopped the attack "within approximately one hour", including through "removing fake pages and applications".

"While contact information was accessed and used by the campaign, our investigations show that no other data was exposed," Google said in an updated statement.

"There's no further action users need to take regarding this event; users who want to review third party apps connected to their account can visit Google Security Checkup."

Google said the spam campaign affected "fewer than 0.1%" of Gmail users. That works out to about one million people affected.

Phishing is an attempt to trick people into handing over their personal information by posing as a reputable company.