Benzinga - Following reports of billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, losing $900,000 in cryptocurrency, Google has stated that malicious scam ads often evade their policies and enforcements placed for the safety of users, DL News reported.
Cuban blamed a Google search for leading him to a fraudulent version of MetaMask, resulting in someone hacking into his crypto wallet.
According to, Cuban is unsure if he clicked on a malicious ad, however, such ads are reportedly common. Google, along with security researchers and consumer rights groups, recognize the increase in these fraudulent advertisements.
Google admitted that they are currently battling an increase in scammers disguising themselves as popular brands.
Spokesperson Davis Thompson stated, “Bad actors often employ sophisticated measures to conceal their identities and evade our policies and enforcement.”
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In response to this escalating issue, Google has launched new certification policies, enhanced advertiser verification, and boosted its ability to detect and prevent coordinated scams. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation also recommends using an ad-blocker while browsing the web.
In 2022, Google eliminated over 5.2 billion ads, 1.3 billion of which were flagged for “abusing the ad network”, a category including ads that link to malware-infected sites.
Despite their efforts, victims of these scams continue to emerge, with some reportedly losing as much as $10,000.
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