Google Is Restricting Ads in Third-Party Tech Support Services

• Google will be limiting advertisements in scam websites that buy online advertising space to make themselves look like legitimate websites.
• Tech support scams often pose as legitimate businesses, and sometimes even the employees are unaware of any kind of suspicious activity.
• With scam websites promoting their activity through Google ads, the tech giant is cracking down on such advertisers and will be offering services to verified providers only.

Tech support scams will longer be able to advertise themselves via Google as the tech giant is taking steps to prevent online fraud. Third party advertisers running tech support companies will no longer be able to advertise on Google’s platform without verification.

Google revealed in a blog that there has been a rise in scam organizations and their activity. Many tech support companies pose as legitimate service providers like Dell, Microsoft, Apple, etc. and in some cases, even the employees of such organizations are unaware of the illegal activities.

Google Global Product Policy Director David Graff revealed "For many years, we’ve consulted and worked with law enforcement and government agencies to address abuse in this area. As the fraudulent activity takes place off our platform, it’s increasingly difficult to separate the bad actors from the legitimate providers.”

That awkward moment when you realize you’ve tried to phone scam NZ Police #scamfail #secureas 🙄🤣📞 pic.twitter.com/YcfRI2cITh

— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) August 28, 2018

Users providing tech support services will be required to follow the global verification program in the coming months. With many scam services being able to spoof legitimate websites, the added verification check in place by Google should help prevent instances of cybercrime. Graff revealed that the company’s endeavors should help against online scams, but there is no guarantee that scammers will disappear even with the security checks in place.

Many of the online scammers pose as legitimate companies and offer support services. But when advertising with Google’s ad platform, many unsuspecting internet users end up calling such fake services after viewing their ads online and get scammed for large sums of money. There have been instances of users having their laptops encrypted with ransomware. If you ever spot fake websites or are contacted by tech support companies making suspicious demands, you should immediately report them to legal authorities.

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