Recently, a rather unusual event calendar reminder popped up on my phone, congratulating me for winning $3267 prize money in some 'annual competition'. Now I wasn't the only lucky (read unlucky) winner out there. Incidentally, many other users too received similar reminders. Of course, it's a spam. If it wasn't, I would be on a holiday and not be writing this guide to help you avoid such spams. If you have also received such spammy reminders in the last few days, you are clearly not alone. There has indeed been an uptick in spammers affecting Google Calendar users these days. We show you how to stop them from bothering you.

What is the problem?

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Many users have reported that they keep receiving spam event reminders about fake events in Google Calender across devices. 

How to stop Google Calendar spam

Here is our step-by-step guide on how you can avoid Google Calendar spam.

Step 1: Open Google Calendar on your desktop computer by merely opening calendar.google.com on your PC's web browser application.

Step 2: Click on the gear icon at the top right corner to go to the 'Settings' menu.

Step 3: Navigate 'Event Settings' by clicking on the option under 'General' settings.

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Step 4: Locate the drop-down menu called 'Automatically add invitations' under 'Event settings.'

Step 5: Select the option - 'No, only show invitations to which I have responded.'

Step 6: Scroll down the page. Under 'View options' menu, uncheck the box 'Show declined events.'

Since these reminders are subject to your Gmail spam, it is not possible to get rid of them completely. However, some of these tweaks would undoubtedly keep those spammy reminders at bay. 

More ways to stop Google Calendar spam

Make sure Google Calendar app on your phone is up-to-date. Android and iOS user can go their respective app stores and see if the app has received any update. Go to the app and navigate to Settings. Now, go to General settings and disable the option 'Show declined events.' Similarly, you can navigate to Settings > Events from Gmail and disable all event notifications or reminders from emails you receive.

(Story picture: Tanmay Patange / Republic World)