3 ms·

Even more reason to switch to other search engines such as DuckDuckGo.

harles 5y ago
Is DuckDuckGo better at this or just a smaller target people ignore? A couple quick searches didn’t turn up anything, but sure seems like they’re vulnerable to the same attack vector.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  DuckDuckGo shows me three scams in the ads at the top of the page when I search "employer ID number".
  - harry8 5y ago
    I got an ad for ebay. followed by 3 results. The ad should be more clearly marked but I don't see any scams here. [1] https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-your-ein-4768994 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-your-ein-4768994 [2] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/employer-identification-number.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/employer-identification... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_Identification_Number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_Identification_Number
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      I get "Get An IRS EIN Number Here - Online IRS EIN Application ein-gov-online.com" and "Employer ID Number App - Edit, Sign, Print, Fill Online irs-form-ss-4.com". On Bing.com I get https://www.irs-tax-ein-number.com https://www.irs-tax-ein-number.com, https://irs.usa-taxid.com https://irs.usa-taxid.com, https://ein-gov-online.com/irs-ein/application https://ein-gov-online.com/irs-ein/application, and https://www.irs-ein-tax-id.com https://www.irs-ein-tax-id.com
- harry8 5y ago
  I know there's a small section of people who will defend big tech under any and all circumstances but really? "I'm unsure if the competition have solved this problem that I tried and verified they don't have." Just seems like a pretty terrible defense of a big tech company that definitely hasn't solved that problem that they absolutely do have and know it will defraud people. Remember the old days when google had their ads clearly and obviously marked, off to the side of your search results so as to minimize the potential for confusing ads with results? Yeah they decided there was more money in shaking down people to claim top spot when people specifically search for them. You search for coke, the top result is pepsi if they pay google. Pay google so people get what they search for. Make it more likely to click on the paid ad than the search result for the exact same thing. People getting ripped off is collateral damage, not worth sacrificing shakedown proceeds to avoid actively helping fraud. It stinks to high heaven and Google employees know this. "We haven't fixed their grift. That fixing it might impact ours is totally unrelated." --Google
  - harles 5y ago
    DuckDuckGo has this problem as well. I’m not sure what switching to a smaller company that does the same thing - albeit in a more privacy conscious way - helps. It’s not a Google problem, it’s a search industry problem.
- daveoc64 5y ago
  I just put "renew driving licence" into DuckDuckGo from the UK and there are two ads before the official Government website. [0] There's also a hilarious eBay ad on the side offering driving licence renewals! The first [1] does say several times that it's not the official site, but they are charging a £57.60 fee for submitting something that can be done on the Government's website for free. The second [2] is also quite clear that it's unofficial, but the price isn't visible, as trying to use the call to action button results in an error message. Putting in "renew driving licence official" results in similar ads being shown first. While it seems these sites aren't doing anything illegal, both they and the search engines are profiting from people that don't know better. [0] - https://imgur.com/a/bIlcBvG https://imgur.com/a/bIlcBvG [1] - https://drivinglicenceshelp.co.uk/apply?msclkid=ec0c69ce50b71a817aac09500647dd93 https://drivinglicenceshelp.co.uk/apply?msclkid=ec0c69ce50b7... [2] - https://drivinglicencerenewalsonline.co.uk/ https://drivinglicencerenewalsonline.co.uk/
detaro 5y ago
duckduckgo's ads are not exactly a beacon of quality either, so I wouldn't trust them necessarily to not let something like this through. Install adblockers for everyone you know.
- kiwijamo 5y ago
  Just realised I probably haven't seen DuckDuckGo's ads due to my adblocker. The downvotes for my original comment seems justified from what I read. Thanks for enlightening me.
mrweasel 5y ago
I reported the same scammer ad at least five time over a period of a month on DuckDuckGo. The ad was impersonating a major Danish news site. This issue isn’t restricted to Google. The only main difference is that Google run their own ad network. In both cases it show how little verification is going on with online ads. If anything I believe the ad networks should be held resonsible for the ads they push to the end user.

Is DuckDuckGo better at this or just a smaller target people ignore? A couple quick searches didn’t turn up anything, but sure seems like they’re vulnerable to the same attack vector.

jeffbee 5y ago
DuckDuckGo shows me three scams in the ads at the top of the page when I search "employer ID number".
- harry8 5y ago
  I got an ad for ebay. followed by 3 results. The ad should be more clearly marked but I don't see any scams here. [1] https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-your-ein-4768994 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-find-your-ein-4768994 [2] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/employer-identification-number.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/employer-identification... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_Identification_Number https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_Identification_Number
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    I get "Get An IRS EIN Number Here - Online IRS EIN Application ein-gov-online.com" and "Employer ID Number App - Edit, Sign, Print, Fill Online irs-form-ss-4.com". On Bing.com I get https://www.irs-tax-ein-number.com https://www.irs-tax-ein-number.com, https://irs.usa-taxid.com https://irs.usa-taxid.com, https://ein-gov-online.com/irs-ein/application https://ein-gov-online.com/irs-ein/application, and https://www.irs-ein-tax-id.com https://www.irs-ein-tax-id.com
harry8 5y ago
I know there's a small section of people who will defend big tech under any and all circumstances but really? "I'm unsure if the competition have solved this problem that I tried and verified they don't have." Just seems like a pretty terrible defense of a big tech company that definitely hasn't solved that problem that they absolutely do have and know it will defraud people. Remember the old days when google had their ads clearly and obviously marked, off to the side of your search results so as to minimize the potential for confusing ads with results? Yeah they decided there was more money in shaking down people to claim top spot when people specifically search for them. You search for coke, the top result is pepsi if they pay google. Pay google so people get what they search for. Make it more likely to click on the paid ad than the search result for the exact same thing. People getting ripped off is collateral damage, not worth sacrificing shakedown proceeds to avoid actively helping fraud. It stinks to high heaven and Google employees know this. "We haven't fixed their grift. That fixing it might impact ours is totally unrelated." --Google
- harles 5y ago
  DuckDuckGo has this problem as well. I’m not sure what switching to a smaller company that does the same thing - albeit in a more privacy conscious way - helps. It’s not a Google problem, it’s a search industry problem.
daveoc64 5y ago
I just put "renew driving licence" into DuckDuckGo from the UK and there are two ads before the official Government website. [0] There's also a hilarious eBay ad on the side offering driving licence renewals! The first [1] does say several times that it's not the official site, but they are charging a £57.60 fee for submitting something that can be done on the Government's website for free. The second [2] is also quite clear that it's unofficial, but the price isn't visible, as trying to use the call to action button results in an error message. Putting in "renew driving licence official" results in similar ads being shown first. While it seems these sites aren't doing anything illegal, both they and the search engines are profiting from people that don't know better. [0] - https://imgur.com/a/bIlcBvG https://imgur.com/a/bIlcBvG [1] - https://drivinglicenceshelp.co.uk/apply?msclkid=ec0c69ce50b71a817aac09500647dd93 https://drivinglicenceshelp.co.uk/apply?msclkid=ec0c69ce50b7... [2] - https://drivinglicencerenewalsonline.co.uk/ https://drivinglicencerenewalsonline.co.uk/

detaro 5y ago

duckduckgo's ads are not exactly a beacon of quality either, so I wouldn't trust them necessarily to not let something like this through. Install adblockers for everyone you know.

kiwijamo 5y ago
Just realised I probably haven't seen DuckDuckGo's ads due to my adblocker. The downvotes for my original comment seems justified from what I read. Thanks for enlightening me.

mrweasel 5y ago

I reported the same scammer ad at least five time over a period of a month on DuckDuckGo. The ad was impersonating a major Danish news site. This issue isn’t restricted to Google. The only main difference is that Google run their own ad network. In both cases it show how little verification is going on with online ads. If anything I believe the ad networks should be held resonsible for the ads they push to the end user.