Scary Google Ads Phishing Scam

Jan 17, 2025 - 7:51 am 3 by
Filed Under Google Ads

Google Ads Scam

Some are seeing a super scary Google Ads phishing scam in the Google Search ads slots. When you search, sometimes a scam may come up, sending you to a Google Sites address that is not managed by Google, where it asks you to login to your Google account with your username and password.

I spotted this on LinkedIn via Fabrizio Trentacosti who shared this video showing the scam. I made the video into a GIF but click through to see the full video:

Google Ads Phishing Scam

Google's Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, responded saying, "Thanks for flagging. I've passed this along. We expressly prohibit ads that aim to deceive people in order to steal their information or scam them. Our teams are actively investigating this issue and working quickly to address it."

Do not fall for these scams, and I am hopeful by the time this story goes live, Google fully patched this scam.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Update: Here is an update from Ginny Marvin:

We have addressed this issue and are now working with impacted advertisers to regain access to their accounts. Our teams continue to implement protections to keep these bad actors off our platform.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 20, 2025

Feb 20, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility Heating Up Again

Feb 20, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google

Google Lens AI Overviews Expands & iOS App Search Screen

Feb 20, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Posts Integrates AI-Enhanced Images

Feb 20, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads AI Images Can Now Create People & Faces

Feb 20, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Top Quality Store Pages Add AI-Generated Review Summaries

Feb 20, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Ads Search Max Coming Soon?