Ask HN: Uncovered a network of scam websites, how do I report them to Google? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Uncovered a network of scam websites, how do I report them to Google?

42 pointsschappim35 comments

I've found a network of scam sites here, how do I report them to google (as they're not just one site)?

Cloudflare has been useless (as usual).

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Mail+for+transaction%2C+S...

A few years ago I found a company illegally giving away software I wrote, that I actively sold on my own website. I contacted Google about it, and they said they asked the author of the other website and he said he had the right to sell it, so they were washing their hands of it. If I had a problem, I had to sue the other guy. And that's why pirate websites are so easy to find, I suppose.

I even provided them my trademark info. They straight up didn't care.

Did you file a DMCA claim per the proper procedure? Sure, the other party has a right to counternotify but if you prevail, Google (or anyone else you send such a claim to) has to take it down or they could be subject to contributory infringement.

If they refused to act why didn’t you sue?

Also, what does trademark have to do with giving away software? That’s copyright infringement.

I obviously don’t know which country you are in Wouldn’t a dmca take down work on Google ?

Without knowing more that sounds correct on their part, i.e. they are not just taking down a website based on your email.

You need a legal claim. A trademark is not that.

> Cloudflare has been useless (as usual).

They see themselves as "neutral" and just forwards all reports to the hosting provider unless it's directly hosted by them, still worth to do though if the hosting provider isn't bulletproof (another option is going to the registrar)

Cloudflare blocked kiwifarms

https://blog.cloudflare.com/kiwifarms-blocked/

I'd consider that an exceptional case of one site that was provably harmful. With scam sites it is easy to find thousands that match a pattern that identifies them as scams but that's still circumstantial evidence. We actually don't want internet police that shuts down sites based on indirect evidence of falsity as there would be numerous false positives, with legitimate sites shut down. The web (both the true www as well as walled gardens) will always be populated by scams and bad actors, just like real life is. We can hope that education & control mechanisms help as much as possible but they are fallible and require time, effort & money.

I'm well aware.

If you read the post you linked:

> This is an extraordinary decision for us to make

> targeted threats have escalated over the last 48 hours to the point that we believe there is an unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life unlike we have previously seen from Kiwifarms or any other customer before

> Revolting content alone does not create an emergency situation that necessitates the action we are taking today

Meaning that they're neutral until being non-neutral gives them better PR (see stormfront and kiwifarms)

So we hate AT&T for wanting to be partisan about traffic crossing their network, but we hate CF for being neutral about the traffic crossing their network. Got it.

What country are they based in? Scams are illegal. Try reporting them to the FBI or the relevant United States governing body (would that be the FTC?).

I got a few of these .shop domain names terminated previously.

Just reach out to the domain registrar and they have been pretty helpful. Their abuse email will be on the WHOIS (e.g. `compliance_abuse@webnic.cc`).

One registrar just deleted it for me.

Another wanted this information which I'm sure you could easily whip up if one of those sites affected you:

* Screen capture (Please include the reported url in the screen capture) * Trademark IP document * Letter of Authorization (LOA)

They seem to use Stripe for payments. I would probably go there.

I think this page? https://developers.google.com/search/help/report-quality-iss...

this only seems to be for an individual site

You have to report all of them individually as evidence.

You can also try here but it's not the proper channel (although it might connect the right people internally if it's high profile enough): https://bughunters.google.com/report

A link to the phishing sites: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/schappim/47d86589a885698f...

Can you explain the use of search term and how the results prove them to be scam? Its all privacy notices but I don't understand what it really means.

Is it just that all these sites look very similar?

Edit:

As a solution, A list of domains can be compiled from these results and added to ad-blockers and email clients.

Why would you do google's job for them, for free?

Because they're not sociopaths and wand to protect other people from being scammed? What kind of question is that.

Why Google and not Bing?

Google will protect the identity of damned near anyone, even ignoring a federal court order, unless a law enforcement officer requests access. Yes, you heard that right. The court ordered they give up information, and Google said no, because it wasn't a law enforcement request.

So if you want any action taken, either contact your local law enforcement or the FBI. Oh, and the FBI doesn't have time for this anymore thanks to all the child porn crap they're apparently dealing with these days. That's what the FBI agent I worked with on a case a few years ago, told me bluntly.

Do you have a citation for the claim that Google habitually flouts lawfully issued subpoenas? They’d be in contempt of court if they did and could be fined and punished.

> could be fined

Haven't you noticed that there seems to be an 'understanding' of sorts reached between tech companies and governments; governments come through every now and then with eyewatering fines, the tech companies pay the fines and continue to do whatever they want.

The government is not going to save you here. Unless they do an India and outright slap bans on firms that won't obey the law (good for them) and I somehow don't see that happening in the US.

I'm going to need to see evidence for google ignoring a legal court order. In the normal course of business they (of course) respond to subpoenas and if they did not they would be shut down.

They actually document the process so people have an easy time serving subpoenas on them here https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/6151275?hl=en

You mean how do you report google's customers (they pay google to show ads) to google so google can cut off their own revenue stream?

My first thought was “… but Google is a network of scam sites!”

It hasn’t seemed like they’re trying to stop scammers since around 15 years ago.

Google doesn't give a shit.

I tried to order a DVD as a gift for a friend, searched for it on Google, clicked a shopping link from the top of the results and ordered.

I had to fill in the delivery address as part of the purchase. A week later I asked if anything has arrived in the post - it hadn't. So I checked what I'd bought and despite the listing showing a DVD cover, asking for an address and looking like a genuine UK based company, the order confirmation email had a download link.

This was clearly dodgy, I asked for a refund which I eventually got, but Google wouldn't even let me report it. I even spoke to a support agent who told me it was my fault.

Edit: they're still at it https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/globalstore.uk

It doesn't sound like a scam.

Paying by credit card usually requires an address. A billing address. If they asked for a second shipping address and gave you a tracking number perhaps.

Also they returned the item even though you could have scammed them by downloading the album.

Scammed them by downloading an illegal copy of a TV series?

It was House of the Dragon, I'm certain HBO don't offer any official downloads from third parties.

Plus, the listing showed photos of DVD covers and make it look like I was buying physical copies.

Look at the link I posted above, loads of people complaining about the exact same thing.

So yes, getting me to pay for a pirated/unofficial copy of something is a scam.

You can buy from third parties.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/season-1/8d6kgwxzqln7?acti...

Microsoft is a HBO distribution partner.

If you can point to some evidence suggesting globalstore.uk were I'll accept it might not have been a scam. Good luck.

Safebrowsing

Post it to hacker news and hope you embarrass them, otherwise they don’t give a crap because they’re in on it anyway making money somehow.

Not difficult, just search for them...

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