Cybercriminals frequently use fake search engine listings to take advantage of our trust in popular brands, and then scam us. It often starts, as with so many attacks, with a sponsored search result on Google.
In the latest example of this type of scam, we found tech support scammers hijacking the results of people looking for 24/7 support for Apple, Bank of America, Facebook, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, and PayPal. Here’s how it works: Cybercriminals pay for a sponsored ad on Google pretending to be a major brand. Often, this ad leads people to a fake website. However, in the cases we recently found, the visitor is taken to the legitimate site with a small difference.
Read more…
Source: Malwarebytes Labz
Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- U.S. DOJ: Tren De Aragua Members and Leaders Indicted in Multi-Million Dollar ATM Jackpotting Scheme
December 18, 2025
United States Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced that a federal grand jury in the District of Nebraska has returned two indictments charging 54 individuals for their roles in a large conspiracy to deploy malware and steal millions of dollars from ATMs in the United States, a crime commonly referred to as “ATM jackpotting.” An indictment returned ...
- Denmark blames Russia for cyberattacks on water utility and local government websites
December 18, 2025
The Danish government has accused Russia of being behind two “destructive and disruptive” cyber-attacks in what it describes as “very clear evidence” of a hybrid war. The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyber-attack on a Danish water utility in 2024 and a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks ...
- From Linear to Complex: An Upgrade in RansomHouse Encryption
December 17, 2025
RansomHouse is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation run by a group that we track as Jolly Scorpius. Recent samples of the associated binaries used in RansomHouse operations reveal a significant upgrade in encryption. This article explores the upgrade of RansomHouse encryption and the potential impact for defenders. Jolly Scorpius uses a double extortion strategy. This strategy combines ...
- Hacking group says it’s extorting Pornhub after stealing users’ viewing data
December 16, 2025
The hacking group Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, which includes members of a gang known as ShinyHunters, said it is attempting to extort porn site Pornhub, after claiming to have stolen personal information belonging to the website’s premium members. On Friday, Pornhub confirmed it was among several companies affected by an earlier breach at the widely used web ...
- Venezuela’s PDVSA suffers cyberattack
December 15, 2025
Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has been subject to a cyberattack, it said on Monday, adding its operations were unaffected, even though four sources said systems remained down and oil cargo deliveries were suspended. PDVSA and the oil ministry blamed the U.S. for the cyberattack on Monday, saying it was carried out by “foreign interests in ...
- Amazon security boss blames Russia’s GRU for years-long energy-sector hacks
December 15, 2025
Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) is behind a years-long campaign targeting energy, telecommunications, and tech providers, stealing credentials and compromising misconfigured devices hosted on AWS to give the Kremlin’s snoops persistent access to sensitive networks, according to Amazon’s security boss. “The campaign demonstrates sustained focus on Western critical infrastructure, particularly the energy sector, with operations spanning ...