Reading @pluralistic’s This is your brain on fraud apologetics:
“Search Google for [food delivery,] carpenters, plumbers…and the top result will be a paid ad for a scam.”
“‘What do you expect Google to do? They can't possibly detect this kind of scam.’ But they _can_…When they get an ad that seems to be for the same business but to a different website, they _could_ interrupt the ad process to confirm it with their verified contact.”
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security #google #search #ads #scams #infosec
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@davidaugust @pluralistic A "different website" from what? How do they know which website is the real one without calling the business?
@LouisIngenthron @pluralistic at the risk of repeating what the article says on this, here’s a tl;dr answer on that: for probably a decade or more, Google has sent postcards (and phones calls, etc.) to confirm a business’s information for various reasons. As the toot you replied to mentions, Google has the means and information to prevent this, everything needed, and chooses not to.
The article is a good read, if you have to chance to read it it fills in even more details.