Using the world’s biggest search platform to find information on scams can deliver victims straight into the arms of criminals.
Google searches are delivering Australians into the arms of fraudsters, as websites and advertisements belonging to scammers are prominently served up to users on the world’s most popular search engine.
This masthead found that Google presents scam sites to users, even after those scams were the subject of explicit government warnings. Although he didn’t realise it at the time, the celebrities who appeared in the ad providing endorsements were fakes, computer-modified replicas of the famous person.Swav was just one day into the con, and had only handed over $1500, when he noticed a contradiction in the scammer’s sales pitch. It piqued his suspicion, and when he hung up, he began doing a bit more research.
Google was accepting money to run ads for the Immediate Connect, Immediate Edge and Immediate Vortex scam platforms, all on ASIC’s alert list.Ten out of the top 14 Google results that appeared in a search for “Immediate Connect” were likely scam platforms, including the top four results, which were all sponsored links for the scam.
After being contacted by this masthead, Google said it was running checks on the advertiser and would take action in accordance with its policies including removing ads.Google said that since 2022 it had required advertisers showing financial services ads to Australians to demonstrate they are licensed by ASIC. The company also said it referred to ASIC’s investor alert list, and would check the ads this masthead identified.
“It’s really easy to run these websites through scam-detector software and identify that they’re high-risk, and there’s the fact that these companies are also listed on government alert websites saying they are scams.” Criminals often posed as a government agency, cybersecurity organisation, fund recovery service, lawyer, consumer advocacy group or charity.
In an October submission, Google argued the draft legislation would have intended consequences, including the removal of the legitimate content of businesses.Google argued: “Under the proposed framework, it would be straightforward for a business to target its competitors with illegitimate complaints, leading to the removal of the competitor’s legitimate content.
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