Your uncle’s frozen Mac says it’s infected after viewing a Google ad. Now what?
Ads appearing all over the Internet are trying to scam people.
Recent research has uncovered a deceptive practice where Google advertisements are being used to distribute a sophisticated tech support scam that targets both Windows and Mac computers. These deceptive ads can be found on various popular websites, such as those related to maps, weather, real estate, document hosting, and sports.
Upon clicking on these malicious ads, users are presented with urgent messages instructing them to call a fraudulent call center, often threatening consequences if they do not comply. In response to these urgent appeals, unsuspecting users may be persuaded to pay exorbitant fees, grant remote access to their devices, or disclose sensitive personal information.
The security firm Netskope observed users from 619 customer organizations clicking on these fraudulent advertisements between August 31 and September 14. Notably, none of these users were actually scammed, as Netskope successfully blocked the content. However, the firm stresses that the number of people exposed to these ads, including those who may have fallen victim to the scam, is likely significantly higher due to the limited scope of their visibility into internet activity.
Netskope tracked over 250 Google Ads campaign IDs across at least 284 legitimate publisher sites during this period.
Written by urgent.news from Ars Technica's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
