Google announced it is rolling out a dedicated form for businesses listed on Google Maps to report extortion attempts. This new measure directly targets threat actors who post inauthentic bad reviews on the platform and demand ransoms to remove the negative comments.
Combating Review Bombing and Extortion
The new form is designed to tackle a common practice called review bombing, where bad actors intentionally flood a business’s profile with fake one star reviews to damage its reputation.
Laurie Richardson, Vice President of Trust & Safety at Google, explained that following the initial attack, the scammers directly contact the business owner, often through third party messaging apps, to demand payment. The threat actors warn of further escalation if the victim fails to pay the fee, attempting to coerce merchants into meeting the extortion demand.
Other Prevalent Scams
Google also warned users about several other kinds of scams currently circulating:
· Online Job Scams Fraudsters impersonate legitimate job boards and recruiters. They use fake postings and video interviews to trick people looking for employment into providing sensitive data or downloading malware, such as remote access trojans (RATs) or information stealers.
· AI Product Impersonation Scams Scammers capitalize on the popularity of artificial intelligence tools by promoting fake services using malvertising and hijacked social media accounts. They promise "free" or "exclusive" access to trap victims into downloading malicious apps, "fleeceware" apps with hidden subscriptions, or bogus browser extensions.
· Malicious VPN Apps and Extensions Threat actors use social engineering, often leveraging geopolitical events, to distribute malicious applications disguised as legitimate VPN services. Once installed, these apps can act as a conduit for other payloads like information stealers, RATs, and banking malware designed to steal data and drain cryptocurrency wallets.
· Fraud Recovery Scams These target individuals who have already been scammed. Fraudsters pose as asset recovery agents associated with trusted entities like law firms or government agencies, only to scam the victims a second time.
· Seasonal Holiday Scams Threat actors exploit major holiday and shopping periods to deceive shoppers with counterfeit offers on social media platforms that lead to financial fraud and data theft.
To counter these schemes, users are advised to be cautious of unexpected delivery texts or emails that demand a fee. Users should also be wary when approached by people claiming
they can recover funds. Always download apps only from trusted sources and legitimate developers and be vigilant when asked to fill out sensitive personal information.
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