Google advertisement for "Wordle" returns a spam fishing result | Hacker News Reader

Google advertisement for "Wordle" returns a spam fishing result

google.com

14 pointsawkii12 comments

Link warning, this site a rather quite aggressive fishing scam. The Google Ad displays that the link will resolve to "www.nytimes.com", however it instead redirects to a [spam fishing site](https://lpeedxcddfgffdsxxxzzs.z13.web.core.windows.net/index...).

My primary question is how is this possible?

Good question. The ad looks like an innocuous link to www.nytimes.com, but clicking on the link actually goes to https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk. (I didn't try actually clicking the link.)

Just install an ad blocker and teach others to do the same

Google's ads have been a headache in the office for a while. Older users don't know to ignore the first screen or so of fake promoted "results" in favor of the actual search results. This has led to multiple phishing attempts.

Sounds like you’re in IT. Can yall install ad blockers for your employees? How well does that kind of thing go over? Truly curious.

We're exploring some options for implementing something like adblocking on all traffic. I don't think people would care if we did that. Some may not even notice. Maybe they'd be happy that some sites were cleaner and faster.

I know there used to be concerns about legal issues, but at this point the risk to safety and trade secrets is getting too great.

You should post a screenshot of what you're seeing, because I don't see any ads or spam phishing results.

Are you sure? It looked like a regular NYT ad for the Wordle site. The kind of ad reputable sites *have* to buy now, lest they be gazumped by competitors.

(It does look like the malicious ad is no longer being served, through.)

100%. I even clicked the link and it brought me to the legit Wordle site on NYT.

You can use the three dot menu to the right of each URL in search results to submit feedback.

And how would one know to do that without clicking on the link first and potentially being exposed to malware?

The correct solution is for a public information campaign to inform everyone never to click on any "Ad" link in any Google search ever. It's the only way to prevent our parents and grandparents from being phished, hijacked, or worse.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com