It seems that Google does not pay much attention to what is advertised in the search engine. It turns out that cybercriminals are actively using the services of the search giant to promote fake sites containing malware.Hackers have advertised fake versions of many popular software sites such as 7-Zip, Blender 3D, Capcut, CCleaner, Notepad++, OBS, Rufus, VirtualBox, VLC Media Player, WinRAR, Putty, especially through the Google Ads platform. The sites in question have only one purpose: to spread malware.
What’s even more interesting is that these fake sites are displayed on top of their official web pages in the ad block. Therefore, if the searcher does not pay attention to the site address, he may fall into the trap. Because it is reported that countless users have been deceived in this way.Malicious ads serious danger
A Twitter user alias NFT God says he downloaded the setup file of the popular video recording and streaming application called OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) from the fake website. A few hours later, his friends reached out to report that his Twitter account had been hacked. Of course, things don’t end there.
It turned out that hackers gained access to the victim’s account on the OpenSea NFT trading platform, a number of other cryptocurrency wallets, and Substack, Gmail and Discord. BleepingComputer collected all available data on fake websites in the search engine’s ad results and sent it to Google.
The company says it’s taking the necessary steps. “We have a robust policy that prohibits ads that attempt to circumvent our sanctions by disguising the advertiser’s identity and impersonating other brands. We have reviewed and removed the ads in question,” Google said. However, it is still necessary to take precautions for the visited web pages.
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