Fake Google ad sends users to unverified, scam websites

A fake advertisement reportedly led some users searching for ‘Amazon’ on Thanksgiving to a scam website just before the Black Friday shopping frenzy, media reported. “Some Google users searching for ‘Amazon’ on Thanksgiving were shown a phony ad that redirected to a scam website, one day before the biggest shopping day of the year,” CBS News reported late on Friday.

“The advertisement appeared at the top of search results on Google for an unknown number of users for at least part of the day on Thursday,” the report added.

Meanwhile, the search engine giant has said that the advertisement violated its policies and has been removed.

“This was an abuse of our platform. We strictly prohibit advertising of illegal activity and have removed these ads and suspended the account,” a Google representative was quoted as saying.

The app which redirected users to a scam site purporting to be run by Microsoft’s support team with a message saying the computer was infected with malware, according to CNET.

However, the site’s URL suggested that it was not affiliated with Microsoft.