Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has warned that Google search results favor phishing and fraudulent websites. Here are the details…
Binance CEO warns of scams
Google has strict policies on crypto marketing for its advertising service. However, scammers have still been spotted on Google for the past few years. Sometimes scam websites even rank higher than legitimate crypto and blockchain projects. In his October 27 tweet, CZ said he had searched Google for CoinMarketCap. However, he warned that phishing sites would appear with the “advertising” tag in front of the real website. CZ used the following statements:
This affects users who add smart contract addresses to MetaMask. We are trying to contact Google for this, and in the meantime, we warn users on social channels.
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1585603140182753281
CoinMarketCap is one of the most widely used crypto data aggregators on the market. It was acquired by Binance in April 2020 for an undisclosed fee, as we have also reported as Kriptokoin.com. Considering their popularity, a lot of traffic can be diverted to these scam ads. They often use fake URLs to get people to enter the site. Therefore, detecting phishing websites can be difficult. For example, one of the websites in the image in CZ’s tweet was written as “coinomarketcaap”.
Increasing number of phishing sites
In April of this year, Blockchain security firm SlowMist published a report. He stated that bad actors use the Achor Protocol and Astroport branding. He then revealed that they use Google Ads to feature impersonated websites. According to SlowMist, promoted websites rank ahead of actual sites people search for. Between April 12 and April 21, Luna Classic (LUNC) was stolen from 52 addresses worth approximately $4.31 million. Of course, it’s worth noting that it was LUNA instead of LUNC at the time.
In November 2021, the research arm of cybersecurity firm CheckPoint also issued a warning that approximately $500,000 was stolen by scammers using Google Ads to promote phishing sites that impersonate crypto wallet providers MetaMask and Phantom. Google’s ad service has been a hot topic this week after parent company Alphabet reported in third-quarter earnings that financial and crypto companies said spending on advertising fell compared to the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, as it is known, scams such as rug pull are also a lot in the crypto money field. Blockchain security firm CertiK discovered that rug pulls, a type of theft that occur when owners of a crypto project run away with funds raised from their investors, dominated scams worldwide in August this year, but said the overall number is still lower than in July.
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