Google Links to Malware and Fraudulent Sites – How to Stay Safe

Contents

1. Why do fraudulent links appear in AI search results?

1. How do I protect myself from this danger?

1. How does Google deal with the problem?

Google is slowly starting to move its AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) out of beta and into mainstream results – but this may increase the risk of people falling victim to scams and malicious attacks.

SGE produces an AI-written response to a user's query, especially one that is more complex and cannot be answered by a single website. It then provides high-level links to the websites it references in the summary.

This is where the problems started. In a story published for the first time beforeComputer beep, SEO consultant Lily Rae noticed spam and malicious sites popping up in the responses.

Presenting it within a conversational-style summary attributed to Google increases the likelihood that someone will fall victim to a scam.

Google says it's constantly updating its algorithms to address these types of links, but scammers are also constantly making changes to get around protections.

Why do fraudulent links appear in AI search results?

Previously, you had to specifically opt-in to AI search results, but they are now more widely available

First launched about a year ago, SGE is only available as a subscription to users willing to accept the risks and potential for incorrect information to appear.

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With mounting pressure from Bing and newcomers like Perplexity fully embracing AI in search results, Google has begun offering SGE to more users, including those who haven't opted in and may not be aware of the potential for misinformation.

According to Lily Rae write on x, SGE has recommended some potentially dangerous websites in response to the conversation.

If the user is not aware of the issue, especially less technical users who may benefit more from AI responses, the risk of falling for a scam becomes greater.

Some of these results stem from targeted SEO poisoning campaigns, where scammers use .online domains and HTML templates with redirects to popular search terms. This allows them to be indexed by Google even though they contain content that would normally be ignored.

Essentially, users click on a seemingly ordinary link, such as a promotion for a sale, and are sent through a series of redirects, eventually landing on the scam site.

It often attempts to convince the user to accept browser notifications, which are then used to send the user more unwanted advertisements even when they are not visiting the scam site.

According to Bleeping Computer, in some rare cases, these links will take the user to sites that push browser extensions that trigger search hijacking that may steal personal information.

How do I protect myself from this danger?

The best solution is to continue to be wary of any link that looks “too good.” Double-check the URL and if it takes you somewhere you don't have experience, don't accept the notifications and leave the website.

If you click on a malicious link, you should take a close look at the domain name of the site it takes you to to make sure it is legitimate. Does the URL contain any misspelled words or does anything else look out of place? If so, it could be a phishing page and not the company's official website.

If you accept push notifications and find yourself bombarded with advertisements for dodgy-looking products or services, simply go to your browser settings and opt out of browser notifications on this site. In Chrome, this is located in Settings, Content, and Notifications. In Safari, it's Settings, then Websites, then Notifications.

It's also worth investing in one of the best antivirus programs for your computer, especially one that can monitor malicious code, fake websites, and other content that can spread malware or viruses.

How does Google deal with the problem?

Google says it continues to update its anti-spam system to prevent these types of results. The search giant explained that these protections also apply to SGE and that the examples shared were for uncommon queries.

Since SGE is meant to handle uncommon and complex queries, which often bog down standard search results, this is a particularly big issue as Google seeks to leverage artificial intelligence to fight growing competition.

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