Google Ads for Cheap Airline Tickets Actually Phishers?

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A new, and oh-so-simple and deviously obvious scam has hit the Internet. According to a report in iAfrica, phishers are now purchasing ads on search engines such as Google, offering cheap airline tickets, and then sitting back and waiting for unsuspecting bargain shoppers to come to them.

The cheap airline ticket phishers were first identified earlier this week by security firm Panda Software. According to Panda, once the user clicks on the link they are taken to “an Internet address offering cheap flights.  The site includes a form asking the user to enter personal details, including their credit card number, expiry date and verification value (CVV).  Once these details have been entered, to prolong the illusion, an error page is displayed telling the user that the transaction has been unsuccessful, and offering instructions on how to pay for the ticket by postal money order.”

Double dipping the victim.

Diabolical.

And while this week’s discovery was phishing sites for cheap airline tickets, there is every reason to believe that this will spread, and may indeed by the next big wave of phishing. It’s so simple. Put up an ad, and let the user come to you.

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In order to protect yourself from this type of scam, Panda Software Director Luis Corrons advises “to treat “bargains” with suspicion, and only make online purchases from trusted sites.   In any event, if in doubt, it is a good idea to search for information about the website in question on the Internet.  Users should be able to find opinions and experiences of other users who have used the same service.”

And remember, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

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4 thoughts on “Google Ads for Cheap Airline Tickets Actually Phishers?

  1. I would just like to say that i think DavidR is a knob. Thats like saying that kids that bully for milk money at school should be tried as terrorists in federal courts, because the child being bullied has fear or is in a state of terror. It is people like you who generalize specific situations and blow things out of proportion that cause the US to be filled with people who sue over coffee being too hot and sue McDonald’s for making them obese. Sometimes the common sense has to fall on the consumer. If someone is blindly going to enter credit card information and send checks and money orders blindly all over the country than perhaps the fault is not with GOOGLE, some of the fault may fall on their shoulders.

    People can get a good deal on a DVD Player purchased out of the trunk of someone’s car, but would you assume that they have a good return policy? Would you expect to be valued as a customer?

    To use your “cab” example, google doesn’t advertise the fact that it accepts ads from “phishers” or “scammmers” or anything like that. So saying that you’d be advertising that you’d be looking for bank robbers is just not an accurate comparison. Just about any organization can purchase banner space on just about any banner service they choose. It is advertising space, and I don’t believe it to be Google’s responsibility to investigate each company who applies for this banner space. Why would google be be any more liable than anyone else? When’s the last time Wal-mart strip searched someone for buying a crow bar?

  2. If “Terrorism” is causing “terror” or fear in a population to achieve a political goal, and these scammers are causing people to “fear” purchasing tickets to use airlines (a critical infrastructure of US transportation) and thereby contributing to financial destruction of the airlines, doesn’t that make them “Terrorists” ??? And isn’t aiding and abedding Terrorists illegal in the USA ??? Google must have some really sharp lawyers for their company to be able to openly help terrorists and thumb their corporate noses at the US Government in the midst of a “war or terrorism”.

  3. And why exactly are our slithering scum politicians not getting laws passed that hold Google Inc. responsible for participation in such activity ??? I bet if I ran a taxi service and advertised that I accepted any customers with no qualifications whatsoever (hint…hint…I have no problem serving as a getaway driver for bank robbers!!) I would be arrested in no time flat as a conspirator or accomplice. How is Google any different ?

  4. I can not help but notice the Google ADsense feed on the page listed nothing but Discount Airline Tickets. Perhaps one of them is a phisher?

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