The most surprising thing about this is that someone as internet-savvy as Doctorow doesn't just skip over the ads but instead clicks on them. That's just asking for trouble.
Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
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Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#12The most surprising thing about this is that someone as internet-savvy as Doctorow doesn't just skip over the ads but instead clicks on them. That's just asking for trouble.
Wow so the victim is guilty because they were not clever/awake/focussed enough?
How does this logic work for victims of other crimes and misdemeanours?
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#13Seems to me to be perfectly legal, if not morally right. Did I miss something? Perhaps not being morally right is something to have outrage about.
Who cares if it's legal or illegal. We don't have these discussions to let the law be the arbiter of morality, we have these discussions to get to the bottom of what the law ought to be, or at the very least, how we as individuals are going to respond to this kind of stuff.
Personally I'm going to continue to block ads on the advice of the FBI regardless what some other people say about it, I'm going to continue to refuse to use third party delivery services, and I'm going to continue to refuse to use any third party rating or aggregator service for local businesses. And also I'm going to continue aggressively avoiding Google products and services.
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#14Parasites like this have also colonized plumbing, locksmiths etc, as has been discussed on this site in the past.
Seems like straight up fraud to me.
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#15Seems to me to be perfectly legal, if not morally right. Did I miss something? Perhaps not being morally right is something to have outrage about.
How is it legal? If you mislead a customer by assuming an identity that is not yours, how is this not identity theft? (not legal) The fraudsters' website says "Kiin Thai eatery - Official Website". Anyways that is for a judge to decide.
Aside from "Official website" they are offering the product from the company that sells it, not a knock off.
I could sell Armani, and buy from their site, I'd be an unofficial reseller.
The point in general (slight change of position here) is that had they not stated "official", reselling is perfectly fine. As you point out trademark infringing (representing yourself as them by saying official) is not.
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#16Seems to me to be perfectly legal, if not morally right. Did I miss something? Perhaps not being morally right is something to have outrage about.
> Perhaps not being morally right is something to have outrage about.
Well, evidently, it doesn't outrage you.
But my impression was the rage was more directed at Google and Amex, who were in a position to easily prevent the fraud but instead choose to benefit from it.
The one party who cannot do anything about it (except cancelling orders and calling their customers until the fraud stops) is the original restaurant.
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#17[flagged]
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it legal? If you mislead a customer by assuming an identity that is not yours, how is this not identity theft? (not legal) The fraudsters' website says "Kiin Thai eatery - Official Website". Anyways that is for a judge to decide.
Aside from "Official website" they are offering the product from the company that sells it, not a knock off. I could sell Armani, and buy from their site, I'd be an unofficial reseller. The point in general (slight change of position here) is that had they not stated "official", reselling is perfectly fine. As you point out trademark infringing (representing yourself as them by saying official) is not.
"Besides from the identity fraud, how is this illegal?"
The identity fraud is core to the product. Had they not registered a domain that made them sound official and said that they were the other company, nobody would get confused and think they're ordering from the actual company.
Armani will tear you up if you set up "armani-losangeles.com" and pretend that you're Armani, even if you don't mention "Official Website".
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#19The most surprising thing about this is that someone as internet-savvy as Doctorow doesn't just skip over the ads but instead clicks on them. That's just asking for trouble.
Wow so the victim is guilty because they were not clever/awake/focussed enough? How does this logic work for victims of other crimes and misdemeanours?
> How does this logic work for victims of other crimes and misdemeanours?
If a security expert has "password123" as their password for all services, everyone would be surprised unless he had been previously identified as a fool.
That someone tech-savvy doesn't use an adblocker is surprising to me, too.
Re: Google search for a local restaurant returns scammer’s ad as top result
#20I saw this exact same thing happen locally. We have a Ramen restaurant whose squatter website opened before they got their own website up and running, and its SEO is better, too.