article thumbnail

The great Google Ads heist: criminals ransack advertiser accounts via fake Google ads

Malwarebytes

Fuel for other malware and scam campaigns Indicators of Compromise Overview Online criminals are targeting individuals and businesses that advertise via Google Ads by phishing them for their credentials ironically via fraudulent Google ads. This earned Google a whopping $175 billion in search-based ad revenues in 2023.

article thumbnail

Repeat offenders drive bulk of tech support scams via Google Ads

Malwarebytes

While hard to measure precisely, tech support scams accounted for $924M, according to the FBI’s 2023 Internet Crime Report. We’ve identified specific advertiser accounts that make up the bulk of fraudulent ads we have reported to Google this past year.

Scams 132
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Scam ‘Funeral Streaming’ Groups Thrive on Facebook

Krebs on Security

Recently, these scammers have branched out into offering fake streaming services for nearly any kind of event advertised on Facebook. One of the many scam funeral group pages on Facebook. One of many look-alike landing pages for video streaming services linked to scam Facebook funeral groups.

Scams 63
article thumbnail

‘Land Lordz’ Service Powers Airbnb Scams

Krebs on Security

Scammers who make a living swindling Airbnb.com customers have a powerful new tool at their disposal: A software-as-a-service offering called “ Land Lordz ,” which helps automate the creation and management of fake Airbnb Web sites and the sending of messages to advertise the fraudulent listings.

Scams 266
article thumbnail

Interview With a Crypto Scam Investment Spammer

Krebs on Security

Social networks are constantly battling inauthentic bot accounts that send direct messages to users promoting scam cryptocurrency investment platforms. Since then, the same spammers have used this method to advertise more than 100 different crypto investment-themed domains. “On Twitter, more spam and crypto scam.”

Scams 289
article thumbnail

Would You Have Fallen for This Phone Scam?

Krebs on Security

You may have heard that today’s phone fraudsters like to use use caller ID spoofing services to make their scam calls seem more believable. But such records are ideally suited for criminals engaged in the type of phone scams that are the subject of this article.

Scams 363
article thumbnail

FBI, Dutch Police Disrupt ‘Manipulaters’ Phishing Gang

Krebs on Security

. “The Saim Raza-run websites operated as marketplaces that advertised and facilitated the sale of tools such as phishing kits, scam pages and email extractors often used to build and maintain fraud operations,” the DOJ explained.

Phishing 239