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Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

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Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#71

Post by blfr »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #58
bambax wrote: post #18

Having used some kind of adblocking, on all devices, for as long as I can remember, I realize I live in an alternate universe where all these scams don't exist [0]. If at some point adblocking is defeated I'm up for a very difficult crash landing into reality. [0]: almost; top results can be scams of course; but it's rare.

Yeah the internet is completely different without blockers. I install uBlock Origin on every browser I come across and I've gotten random comments from other users about how everything just seems better for some reason. Firefox supports uBlock Origin on mobile too, people love it when they try it out and find that there's no idiotic YouTube ads anymore. Firefox should just ship uBlock Origin by default and make it th…

For YouTube on mobile, you can get ad-free experience with their premium tier[1] or YouTube Vanced[2]. Both come complete with background playback and overlay player.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/premium

[2] https://vancedapp.com/

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#72

Post by andylynch »

ollybee wrote: post #43

This does not seem be a problem in the UK, searches topics that might be prone to this all seem to give the correct .gov.uk site as the first result with no ads that could be described as misleading. I wonder if the UK government, advertising standards agencies and trading standards authorities have put more pressure on google? Or perhaps the legal landscape here makes it untenable to operate such a scam business.

I was going to say there used to be (home office applications come to mind), but searching for something like ‘SORN’ still returns 5 scammy ads above the real page you need (but the more common V5C doesn’t. I do think gov.uk has improved this compared to the past. I also noticed the uk govt is running google ads for some keywords themselves.

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#74

Post by Closi »

ollybee wrote: post #43

This does not seem be a problem in the UK, searches topics that might be prone to this all seem to give the correct .gov.uk site as the first result with no ads that could be described as misleading. I wonder if the UK government, advertising standards agencies and trading standards authorities have put more pressure on google? Or perhaps the legal landscape here makes it untenable to operate such a scam business.

My first attempt, “tv license”, brings back a form-filling service above the real one too.

I think Google has really increased the number of in-search ads recently. It used to be that they were obvious and at the top/side, now they look like regular results and often fill up the whole first page. IMO they know they are dominant enough in the market now that they can get away with providing garbage results for some short term profit, and will just dial it back if viable competitors come along to stop anyone else entering the market.

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#75

Post by FriedrichN »

ahelwer wrote: post #37

I fell prey to this. Might have been the exact same website, too. Had had a drink with dinner, thought heck why not file for my EIN for an independent consulting LLC I was creating? Was using a fresh OS install where I hadn't yet installed Firefox with an adblocker. Usual defenses were weakened. Boom, $250 down the drain before I really thought it all through. Fortunately I was able to get it refunded by initiating a…

People think I'm paranoid checking domains, certificates, and bank numbers but it's a small price to pay as you found out. You lost $250, some lose thousands.

This stuff needs to be regulated, companies like Google need to be held accountable for what they serve up to users. No more hiding behind this shield of "we're just a platform" when they damn well know they're the platform. It's all fun and games until your (grand)parents lose 20K to some scumbag scammers.

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#76

Post by yusi-san »

blfr wrote: post #71
matheusmoreira wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the internet is completely different without blockers. I install uBlock Origin on every browser I come across and I've gotten random comments from other users about how everything just seems better for some reason. Firefox supports uBlock Origin on mobile too, people love it when they try it out and find that there's no idiotic YouTube ads anymore. Firefox should just ship uBlock Origin by default and make it th…

For YouTube on mobile, you can get ad-free experience with their premium tier[1] or YouTube Vanced[2]. Both come complete with background playback and overlay player. [1] https://www.youtube.com/premium [2] https://vancedapp.com/

Or on Android you can install NewPipe[0] which is an open source YouTube frond-end without ads too. You can install it from F-Droid[1] or Github releases[2].

[0] : https://newpipe.net/ [1] : https://f-droid.org/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/ [2] : https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#77

Post by insta_anon »

I have a hard time trying to understand why governments don’t address these scams more proactively.

There is a related issue when you register a new company here in Germany: As soon as the new entity is added to the company house (called “Handelsregister”), you will start to receive fake invoices from scam companies.

These invoice look very similar to official ones and some even use the official seal of the state (see https://www.firma.de/en/company-formation/beware-of-fake-han... for examples).

If you don’t pay close attention you can easily mistake these invoice for official ones.

This scam is quite well-known and has been going on for years. To further add to the insult - the companies that send these fake invoices are usually German entities as well, not some obscure shell companies in remote islands and yet besides warnings from the government it seems that little is happening.

I find it infuriating and don’t understand why it is even allowed to send another party that you never had any relation with an invoice for a service that you actually haven’t performed yet.

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#78

Post by josefx »

Joeri wrote: post #34
raister wrote: post #32

What's ironically is that the ads were paid with scam money, so it's like Google is in fact, part of the 'gang'... Crazy world! Most part of scams register names that looks like something legit, but, of course, no one seems to care who's buying what they're buying when registering domain names.

Google should commit to donating all funds received from ads that are later detected as scams to charity.

That implies that Google has a right to money it makes from scams. Next up: Driver of getaway car gets to keep his share from robbery, will donate $10 to security guards widow.

Re: Ads are impersonating government websites in Google results, despite ban

#80

Post by dom111 »

bencollier49 wrote: post #73

I noticed that this is happening in the UK the other day. There are firms of lawyers (are they?) creating clones of the free Citizen's Advice service and marketing it via Google Ads. Slimy stuff.

Yeah, the one that caught my Mum recently was a "form filling service" for changing your driving license address. It sucks as it scams money out of people that probably don't have that much in the first place.

Shortly after this she started getting additional scam calls/texts too, although this could be entirely unrelated...

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