The internet giant warns of fraud • Lists the most common scams – and tricks
Google comes out and warns about the latest forms of Internet fraud, in an article.
One of the most common methods that criminal actors use is to create misleading websites, to make the user believe that they are on a legitimate site. The goal of the method may be to get people to download malicious files, make payments for services that don’t exist, or provide sensitive information. A common example is creating fake customer service pages.
Fake websites – how to protect yourself
The company now advises on a method to avoid being deceived by scam pages. It is to use the function “About this result”, which is reached by clicking on the three dots that appear next to the search result in Google.
“It provides valuable insights about the source that can help you see if it is a legitimate website,” the company writes in the article.
Other tricks are to look out for warning signs such as misspellings, strange formats or fonts, and the use of emojis on a website.
Pretending to be public figures
Another method used by criminal organizations is to create profiles that pretend to be public figures on various platforms. In order to create credible profiles, AI and other tools are usually used to create so-called “deepfakes”, fake videos or images that appear to be genuine.
According to Google, these profiles can contact users with lucrative offers, in everything from investments to fake apps. In order to avoid being deceived, one should look out for “unnatural expressions” in the content.
“Deepfakes often have trouble making faces look completely natural, which can be a first indicator of synthetic content,” the article states.
Crypto scams
Google has also seen a series of scams linked to crypto investments. What they have in common is that they often make promises of extremely high returns with low risk. Fraudsters often use images or videos to appear as trustworthy actors or brands.
In order not to be deceived, the company advises to always be skeptical of investments that promise guaranteed or very high returns, with very low risk.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” they write.