With evolving hackers, phishing attacks on Gmail users are getting smarter, powered by artificial intelligence.

Gmail is used by over 2.5 billion worldwide, and as Google claims, it is a definite testing ground for cybercriminals and scammers.

A recent case is that of Sam Mitrovic-a Microsoft solutions consultant. He nearly fell prey to an extremely convincing phishing scam, carried out by AI. The attack started with a Gmail account recovery request and ended with a phone call from someone claiming to be from Google support.

"He asks if I'm traveling," Mitrovic recounted, as cited by a Forbes report. "When I said no, he asks if I logged in from Germany, to which I reply no." The caller then upped the fear level by saying that an attacker had accessed Mitrovic's Gmail account for the past week.

To the scammer's apparent advantage, Mitrovic quickly searched online and saw that the phone number was listed on Google's business pages, making the scam even more believable. It wasn't until the voice sounded almost too perfect that Mitrovic realized he was being taken in by AI-driven scammer.

This advanced phishing scam somewhat parallels another recent example featured by Garry Tan, founder of Y Combinator.

Tan cautioned after having received a phishing call that was similarly over-the-top AI-driven, in which scammers represented the act of verifying his identity due to a received fake death certificate. "Do not click yes on this dialog," Tan said, warning that the phishing scam was to recover the account through bypassing standard security measures.

Besides AI-fueled phone frauds, hackers have been using legitimate Google tools, such as Google Forms, to establish some semblance of legitimacy in their phishing attempts.

Fraudsters avoid detection, and deliver even less cause for suspicion by sending them emails from Google servers, fashioned to look official. These typical ways soon enable users to fall into their trap while surrendering their credentials.

Reacting to these highly sophisticated attacks, Google has launched Global Signal Exchange (GSE) in collaboration with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and the DNS Research Federation.

GSE will give real-time insights into cybercrime by sharing intelligence about scammers and fraudsters. "The ultimate goal," Amanda Storey, Google's senior director of trust and safety, said, "is to create a user-friendly solution that operates at the scale of the internet."

Users of Gmail are also being warned to remain vigilant, especially when they receive unsolicited account recovery requests or calls.

And if ever you receive that call from someone claiming to be from Google support, then you have to remain calm so as not to reveal any of your personal data as you ask them to show if the call or email actually came from there.