Scammers who prey on unwary victims on social media platforms are now spreading their reach to the Google search engine. Scammers are increasingly using Google to facilitate their own nefarious acts, preying on people’s proclivity to connect with adverts on the renowned search engine. An individual lost $900,000 (approximately Rs. 7.4 crore) this week as a result of an ad phishing scam, according to Web3 tracker Scam Sniffer. The incident raised red flags, and further investigation uncovered some alarming details.
A cyber researcher known as @0xngmi on X has issued a warning about crypto criminals using legitimate Google pages to deceive customers. 0xngmi works as a researcher for the Web3 startup DeFiLlama.
These cybercriminals are purchasing Google advertising on legitimate websites. When potential victims click on the links, they are directed to ‘kochava.com,’ an ad network that then redirects them to manufactured scam websites.
The researcher shared a screenshot on X that showed how impersonators were mimicking the DeFiLlama website itself. A ‘Sponsored’ tag shown above the website recognised the fraudulent website, according to 0xngmi’s screenshot.
DeFiLlama has repeatedly reported the ad and the ad network to Google. “However, Google has taken no action,” the researcher wrote in their X thread. The search engine behemoth has yet to reply to these concerns.
However, 0xngmi has advised other members of the crypto community to use an ad blocker to avoid being exposed to suspicious adverts.
According to ScamSniffer, cryptocurrency investors have lost up to $4 million (approximately Rs. 35 crore) by connecting with bogus links scattered around the internet.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao chastised Google in October 2022 for failing to remove scam sites from search results, exposing individuals to financial abuses on a regular basis.
Despite repeated complaints, Google has yet to issue a statement or provide a solution to the issues.
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