John in Westlake, Ohio, received a suspicious Evite, emailed his friend to verify it, and got a reassuring reply that he later confirmed was part of the scam.
FTC guidance from May 2026 warns fake invitations can mimic Evite or Paperless Post, steal passwords or verification codes, and in some cases give criminals remote access through malicious downloads.
Gmail settings can be abused to send automatic replies through filters, templates or vacation responses, though there is no proof yet how the scammer generated the confirmation email in this case.
Evite said it is not seeing a rise in phishing scams and advised users to distrust generic invitations, but the report says even polished, detailed invites can be convincing.
Cybersecurity advice in the report centers on verifying through a trusted phone number or separate channel, checking official apps directly, reviewing Gmail for unauthorized rules, and reporting phishing attempts.