Scamspotter.org – Google and Cybercrime Support Network Partnership

Scamspotter.org – Google and Cybercrime Support Network Partnership(scamspotter.org)

45 points by jumarm 4 years ago | 14 comments

goatsi 4 years ago |

>If you get an unexpected phone call, hang up. Then look up the bank, agency or organization that’s supposedly calling and get in touch directly.

They should really add a warning here not to use Google for this unless they have an adblocker installed.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/phishing-for-crypto-half-a...

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-search...

praash 4 years ago | |

Wow, this takes Google's influence to a whole new level.

captn3m0 4 years ago | |

Or Twitter. Lots of fake tweets with scam support numbers pretending to be the official support

counternotions 4 years ago |

Incredibly ironic that this is headlined by Google since they perpetuate most online scams through SEO and AdWords, where they refuse to investigate too deeply since it would negatively impact their quarterly financials.

joe_the_user 4 years ago | |

The thing with Google is, the search-based model for information finding itself is indeed what enables this but it's what enables the Internet itself. There is no index-based search engine that wouldn't be actively gamed by scammers. Scamming is so profitable that one can say 99% of the Internet "by flow" is fraud. And this results in Google being both the enabler of and the wall that stands against scamming. Any purely algorithmic approach to indexing obviously would be taken over. The problem of gaming scammers would exist whether you had Google or a competitive group of search engines. And this situation makes concentration natural since the engine that invests most in finding quality will return it most and so it will be preferred by consumers.

And yes, Google itself is degenerating. I'm not sure what the solution is. The Internet has incubated such an economy for fraud, I imagine waking up and the whole thing will hacked.

nwellnhof 4 years ago | |

Gmail is also one of largest sources of email scams and Google doesn't care one bit.

jumarm 4 years ago |

This seems like a new initiative between Google and the CSN to stop people from falling from scams that YouTubers like Kitboga[0] and Jim Browning[1] like to expose.

The about page dives into the problem at hand: https://scamspotter.org/about

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/c/KitbogaShow

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/c/JimBrowning

petee 4 years ago | |

Meanwhile pushing more scams on YouTube themselves -- I report scam ad's once a day and most of them are back online within a week.

The current ones are all targeting seniors offering "free" money from the CARES act.

praash 4 years ago |

This is a nice step for Google to promote scam awareness, but it shifts the responsibility to the victims.

Google has an enormous role in enabling fraud and malware. They reap huge profits from malicious advertising and it's been a problem for more than a decade. Just about any fraud gets a good amount of exposure before a takedown.

Google should do much more than slap their name on a campaign and tell users to take care.

drekipus 4 years ago |

Google better be on the hero redemption path. This seems like a good move and could be using Google's powers for good?

flerovium 4 years ago |

It's hard not to read "Cybercrime Support Network" as an org that supports cybercriminals.

jbirer 4 years ago | |

A website that provides emotional support for those whose fraud activities have not succeeded pushing them into depression.

chrisMyzel 4 years ago |

The much I dislike the G company they do a good job of highlighting how to make spotting a scam easy…it feels like first order principles to me…though it's a problem for many not so "internet natives".

chrisMyzel 4 years ago | |

why is this getting downvoted?