Google Ads Promotes Fake Crypto Website Leading to Phishing Scam

cryptonews.com:

Google’s online advertising platform, Google Ads, is promoting malicious crypto websites, exposing users to a phishing scam. 

According to a  report from BleepingComputer , threat actors have exploited Google Ads to advertise a fake version of Whales Market, an over-the-counter (OTC) crypto platform facilitating airdropped token trading. 

The compromised version of the website appears as a sponsored ad at the top of Google search results, drawing unsuspecting users into the trap.

Despite its initial appearance with a seemingly legitimate domain address, users who interact with the ad are redirected to a fraudulent domain, [www. whaels. market], instead of the authentic [www.whales.market].

The report noted that the attackers have registered multiple domains targeting  Whales  Market, with at least one, [ www.whaless.market ], being inactive. 

The imitated clone of the Whales Market website replicates the interface of the legitimate version, deceiving users into linking their digital wallets, which triggers malicious scripts that drain victims’ crypto holdings from their wallets.

This incident adds to the growing list of similar occurrences where scammers exploit Google’s platform to promote fraudulent services. 

While the identities of the perpetrators behind this latest phishing campaign remain unknown, Google is taking action against scammers. 

Earlier this month, the company  filed a lawsuit  against two individuals from China, Yunfeng Sun and Hongnam Cheung, for utilizing the Google Play store to deceive people into fake crypto investments. 

Although the lawsuit did not disclose the specific names of the implicated applications, Google revealed that it had deactivated 87 fraudulent apps associated with Sun