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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

#161

Post by TheCoelacanth »

devwastaken wrote: post #57
sen wrote: post #5

I teach everyone in my family to never trust the first few sponsored results now matter how convincing they may be. As far as I’m concerned Google know exactly what they’re doing and are actively complicit in perpetuating online scams against one family and friends. Are we seriously supposed to believe a company of their size, with their talent pool, and their money, can’t filter out such blatantly obvious crap? Sure…

U.S. government and friends simply don't care. Sever phone lines from outside western countries where law applies - you've solved the majority of the problem. Same with disinformation campaigns from other countries. Sever their internet. We can never prosecute illigal acts conducted outside the west.

Yes, because four million Indian Americans, 2 million Americans born in Africa, 5 million Chinese Americans, etc. aren't going to mind at all if you sever contact to their friends and family.

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

#162

Post by pawsforapplase »

stephen_g wrote: post #49
zuppy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are adblockers for ios too, for example here's a good one: https://1blocker.com

Yeah, I use 1blocker too, it's fairly good but annoying they only give you monthly rule updates (unless a major site breaks) unless you pay a subscription. Even when I bought the 'Pro' version, and then they changed to a subscription model... Still, it works pretty well. But how I wish it was possible to have uBlock Origin running in mobile Safari (and desktop Safari for that matter)...

They do have a one-time payment option of about $40.

But in my experience, it simply does not work compared to other platforms. I still see a lot of ads even with their strictest settings, and it also seems to break a lot of sites without having any toggle switches in the browser UI.

It's gotten to the point where I put the iPhone down and pick up another device if I need to access a website. After a few months, I'd like to just resell the phone. But on the social side of things, having a number with blue chat bubbles is a depressingly effective status symbol, and Apple is better about in-app tracking.

It's getting hard to ignore how harmful the duopoly in phone operating systems is to consumers. Carrying two phones around is not a tenable solution.

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

#163

Post by encryptluks2 »

notyourday wrote: post #145
YetAnotherNick wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you prosecute them? Not only most scammers are nameless, but most are from countries where government needs to fix lot of things before they are effective against scammers.

That's easy. Those scams operate because the countries/players have access to the US financial system. You provide the incentives to the countries to fix their problem by cutting them completely off. If someone using a bank in Cyprus did it, you tell Cyprus government that in 48 hours the Fed will block all transactions with that bank and you block it. They move to another bank, you repeat it. Eventually Cyprus gover…

Same with Robocallers... Also call them what they are. Call them terrorist and you block off the countries enabling these terrorist groups. Sanction them too

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

#164

Post by [deleted] »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #66
Larrikin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case described in the article of government impersonation, I'd prefer a 10x fine.

Shouldn't companies actively aiding fraud to the the tune of, I expect, $Billions have their executives go to jail and the company garnished of at least some percentage points of global revenue? Taking money to put fraudulent ads above legitimate results seems like it's not doing the minimum due diligence to skirt around a willful negligence accusation.

[deleted]

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

#165

Post by pawsforapplase »

aikinai wrote: post #67
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like they need to work on their UX then because if people here aren't getting it working then it seems likely that most of their users aren't able to. Is it a default installed plugin in Safari?

I think the only way anyone would not find it would be assuming it doesn't exist. If you search on the web, App Store, iPhone search box, etc. you'll find it right away. And the answer is, it's not installed by default, but there are a variety of third-party plugins available in the App Store.

I spent days trying to set up effective ad blocking on iOS.

There is a firehouse of options in the app store, but you need to sift through conflicting reports about which ones are "still good" - the prevailing recommendations seemed to change every 6 months or so when I researched which ones to try.

When you do find some that seem worthwhile, the paid tiers are often expensive, and they will not work as well as the free browser extensions on every other platform.

And there is no replacement for NoScript at any price.

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

#166

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

YetAnotherNick wrote: post #147
notyourday wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's easy. Those scams operate because the countries/players have access to the US financial system. You provide the incentives to the countries to fix their problem by cutting them completely off. If someone using a bank in Cyprus did it, you tell Cyprus government that in 48 hours the Fed will block all transactions with that bank and you block it. They move to another bank, you repeat it. Eventually Cyprus gover…

While we are at it, let's also throw 2-3 nukes to the country in case they dont fix it.

Well, it wouldn't be nukes but if someone who outed US Gov wrongdoing was there, I'm sure the US could force down their aircraft or whatever.

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

#167

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

amelius wrote: post #111
techrat wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This stuff needs to be regulated, Regulated? Fraud is illegal. It needs to be PROSECUTED.

Perhaps if we all start using all-caps, somebody in government will hear us. You are right, of course.

> Perhaps if we all start using all-caps, somebody in government will hear us

YES - THE NAVY

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

#168

Post by max937 »

aidos wrote: post #88
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…

It’s rough out there. Was helping a friend of a friend last night who had been scammed into giving out her Instagram password. They’ve change the email / phone / pw on the account. In her case the account is actually a substantial business (art) portfolio with a lot of followers. Naturally, after a little digging, I discovered that her email was using the same pw and had also been compromised (hackers deleted the ema…

Should be able to get that account back unless they stole her email as well. Typically the original email is able to recover the account and it doesn't matter that the hackers changed the email.

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

#169

Post by mellavora »

bencollier49 wrote: post #132
dom111 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Doubt it - these sorts of companies are very keen on people who are known to be susceptible.

you mean Republicans?

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

#170

Post by Nextgrid »

YetAnotherNick wrote: post #143
techrat wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This stuff needs to be regulated, Regulated? Fraud is illegal. It needs to be PROSECUTED.

How will you prosecute them? Not only most scammers are nameless, but most are from countries where government needs to fix lot of things before they are effective against scammers.

You prosecute the ad companies that are complicit and assist them in their endeavors. The scammer himself might be out of reach of US law enforcement, but Google which is promoting their scams (and getting paid for it) is definitely not.
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