How to Stop Spam Calendar Invites in Google Calendar

Opening your Google Calendar to prepare for the week, only to find it littered with fake events claiming you have “Won an iPhone” or your “McAfee Subscription is Expired,” is a highly intrusive form of spam. Because Google Calendar is designed to make collaboration easy, spammers exploit its default settings to force malicious events directly onto your personal schedule.

Fortunately, you do not need to delete these events one by one. By tweaking a few specific settings, you can lock down your Google Calendar and permanently stop spam invites from appearing.

1. Disable Automatic Invitations (The Most Important Fix)

By default, Google Calendar automatically adds an event to your grid the moment someone emails you an invitation, even if you do not know the sender. This is the primary loophole spammers use.

1. Open Google Calendar on a desktop web browser (these settings are difficult to access via the mobile app).
2. Click the Settings (Gear) icon in the top-right corner and select Settings.
3. In the left-hand sidebar menu, click on Event settings.
4. Locate the dropdown menu labeled Add invitations to my calendar.
5. Change this setting from From everyone to Only if the sender is known.

Once changed, Google will only automatically add events if they come from people in your contacts list or people you have previously interacted with. If a spammer sends an invite, it will stay hidden in your email inbox and will not clutter your calendar unless you explicitly open it and accept.

2. Stop Gmail from Creating Fake Events

Google Calendar has a smart feature that scans your Gmail inbox for flight itineraries, hotel bookings, and restaurant reservations, automatically turning them into calendar blocks. Unfortunately, spammers send fake flight confirmations specifically to trigger this feature.

1. While still in the Google Calendar Settings menu, look at the left-hand sidebar again.
2. Click on Events from Gmail.
3. Uncheck the box next to Show events automatically created by Gmail in my calendar.
4. A warning will pop up explaining that you will no longer see automatic flight/hotel tracking. Click OK to confirm.

3. How to Safely Handle Existing Spam

If your calendar is already full of spam events, you must handle them carefully. Never click “Decline” or “No” on a spam invite.

Clicking “Decline” sends a notification back to the spammer, confirming that your email address is active and that a real human is looking at the calendar. This will only guarantee that you receive more spam in the future.

Instead, Report It As Spam:

1. Click once on the spam event in your calendar grid to open the preview card.
2. Do not click any RSVP buttons. Instead, click the three vertical dots (Options) at the top of the card.
3. Select Report as spam from the dropdown menu.

This securely removes the event from your calendar without sending an RSVP response to the malicious sender, and it helps train Google’s filters to block that sender globally.

4. Check for Malicious Subscribed Calendars

Sometimes, the spam is not coming from individual invitations, but rather a malicious public calendar that you accidentally subscribed to (often caused by clicking a deceptive link on a website).

1. Go back to the main Google Calendar view.
2. Look at the left sidebar and scroll down to the Other calendars section.
3. Review the list. If you see any strange calendars (e.g., “Daily Deals,” “Virus Alerts,” or a random string of letters), hover your mouse over it.
4. Click the X icon that appears to unsubscribe and permanently remove it from your account.

By locking down your event settings and properly reporting existing spam, you can ensure your Google Calendar remains a secure, clean tool for your actual schedule.