Right here’s methods to keep away from being hit by fraudulent web sites that scammers can catapult on to the highest of your search outcomes
10 Apr 2025
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4 min. learn
When was the final time you looked for one thing utilizing Google Search, Bing or one other gateway to the limitless expanse of the web? What a foolish query, proper? It could have been simply moments in the past and maybe it’s even the way you landed on this blogpost.
Others looking on-line, nonetheless, could encounter much less favorable outcomes. How so? Our behavior of blindly trusting and clicking on prime search outcomes has change into so predictable that it may be subverted and turned in opposition to us.
Rigging the sport
Cautionary examples aren’t exhausting to come back by, and I recall one that’s too quirky to not point out: some Australians who just lately looked for one thing as innocuous because the legality of Bengal cats within the nation didn’t obtain easy info on pet laws; as an alternative, they unwittingly ran the chance of having their knowledge stolen following a sequence of occasions that began with a click on on a prime search engine end result.
However even should you’re not a cat fancier, it’s best to know that even a easy search question could breed hassle. Some cybercriminals have for years been utilizing methods that may push malicious web sites dressed as much as look legit into the highest of individuals’s search outcomes, sometimes leveraging both search engine optimization poisoning (also called black hat search engine optimization) or, much more generally, malicious search adverts.
One subtle instance of ‘search engine optimization fraud as a service’ was uncovered by ESET researchers in 2021 after they discovered a beforehand undocumented server-side trojan that manipulated search engine outcomes by hijacking the popularity of the web sites it compromises. Comparable campaigns had been noticed once more simply weeks in the past.
In one other instance, ESET researchers recognized a marketing campaign that deployed adverts in Google search outcomes main victims to phony web sites that appeared an identical to these of widespread software program, comparable to Firefox, WhatsApp, or Telegram. The top purpose was to realize full management of the compromised units.
The dangers aren’t misplaced on Google, after all. In line with its newest Advertisements Security Report, in 2023 the corporate “blocked or eliminated over 5.5 billion adverts, barely up from the prior yr, and suspended 12.7 million advertiser accounts, practically double from the earlier yr.”
Some threats nonetheless slip by means of, nonetheless. Which is why it pays to know in regards to the dangers concerned in each natural and paid search outcomes, and methods to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Hidden in plain sight
The latest meteoric rise of AI instruments, for one, has created new looking grounds for scammers, sparking schemes the place fraudsters purchased adverts for counterfeit ChatGPT websites that redirected individuals to web sites harvesting bank card particulars. The location under displayed logos of precise OpenAI companions, probably duping even many tech-savvy victims. A lot the identical factor occurred with different AI instruments, together with most just lately when DeepSeek burst onto the scene.
ESET researchers in Latin America just lately noticed a complicated marketing campaign that impersonated the La Veloz del Norte bus firm campaigns and focused Argentinians who seek for long-distance bus tickets. Vacationers who entered their info on the imposter web site unwittingly handed over each login credentials and banking particulars to cybercriminals.
Monetary providers symbolize notably high-value targets. In 2022, ESET researchers in Latin America alerted individuals to scams impersonating Mastercard by means of adverts.
Staying secure
Most of all, do not forget that prominence in search outcomes doesn’t routinely equate to legitimacy. Additionally, likelihood is excessive that many individuals don’t at all times distinguish between natural outcomes and adverts, and criminals reap the benefits of this particularly by means of malvertising campaigns aimed toward individuals who, for instance, seek for software program.
In some instances, fraudsters could register a typosquatting or similar-looking top-level area to that of the software program writer in an effort to dupe the sufferer, as was the case right here with telegraem[.]org. Which is why it’s best to keep away from blindly clicking on no matter seems on the prime of your search web page. As an alternative, look at the URLs meticulously and look out for any indicators that one thing is amiss. Apply the identical degree of scrutiny should you’re utilizing Google’s AI search options, as scammers are continuously evolving their strategies and discover new methods of selling web sites that push scams and malware.
Defend your digital accounts with robust and distinctive passwords or passphrases, in addition to with two-factor authentication. Use respected safety software program that may determine and block connections to malicious domains, thus offering a further layer of safety in opposition to misleading search outcomes.
Additionally, Google itself provides instruments to examine the outcomes, comparable to accessing particulars by clicking the three dots adjoining to sponsored listings, which might expose discrepancies between claims and the true id. When you suspect that you’ve got encountered a dodgy web site, you possibly can report it to Google.
Conclusion
We’ve all carried out it 1,000,000 instances: typed a question, scanned outcomes, clicked on one in all them, ‘bought our fill’, and moved on. And though traditional search engines like google and yahoo more and more compete with the likes of ChatGPT and AI-generated search summaries, the traditional search-and-click routine is unlikely to go anyplace any time quickly. Previous habits die exhausting, and the dangers aren’t going anyplace, both. Search fastidiously.
