Beware of Fake Links in Google Ads

Google ads can be a sneaky way for scammers to trick people. They buy ads that look like they lead to real websites, but they add hidden parts to the link. These hidden parts show fake phone numbers on the real website. So, even if the address bar shows the right website, like hp. com, the page might show fake text from scammers. This trick works because Google only shows the main part of the website link in the ad. The scammers add extra parts to the link that aren't visible. When someone clicks on the ad, it goes to the real website, but the extra parts make the website show fake information. This works on most browsers and websites. Even Malwarebytes. com was affected by this trick until they started blocking the fake parts of the links.

The scammers are taking advantage of a weakness in how websites handle these links. The website can't tell that the link is fake, so it shows the fake information. So far, this trick has only been seen with Google ads, but it could work with ads on other sites too. Not everyone will notice that the text is fake. People with vision problems, cognitive decline, or who are tired or in a hurry might not see the scam. When they call the fake phone number, they talk to a scammer pretending to be from the company. The scammer then tries to get personal or payment details or access to the person's computer. Scammers pretending to be from Bank of America or PayPal might try to take money from the person's account. To protect yourself, be careful with Google ads. It's safer to click on links in the regular search results instead of ads. Also, Malwarebytes has a browser security product that warns users about these scams. It's important to stay alert and think critically about the links we click on.

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