{"id":3793,"date":"2024-05-31T04:46:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T04:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/?p=3793"},"modified":"2024-05-31T04:46:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T04:46:33","slug":"how-ai-driven-scams-are-exploiting-search-engine-results-expert-insights-and-safety-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/ai-scams\/how-ai-driven-scams-are-exploiting-search-engine-results-expert-insights-and-safety-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI-Driven Scams Are Exploiting Search Engine Results: Expert Insights and Safety Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you&#8217;re googling for answers, looking for phone numbers, or searching for a popular social media site, simple search engine inquiries can pose a threat with AI scams on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An expert who spoke to ABC13 explained that attackers are exploiting &#8220;search engine optimization.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mitchem Boles from GuidePoint Security said attackers buy ads online and ensure they rank high in your search results, making their websites appear legitimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He provided examples, such as searching for &#8220;PayPal.&#8221; Upon closer inspection, some of the top search results are not legitimate sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;So, the advertisements at the top make it easier to find. They might say, &#8216;Sign into your account &#8211; Securely access your account,&#8217; but the ad itself links to a fake website,&#8221; Boles demonstrated. &#8220;That&#8217;s not PayPal&#8217;s website.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While checking for obvious spelling errors on websites and emails can help identify fraud, AI has advanced to the point where more scrutiny is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;There could be subtle differences, like a &#8216;U&#8217; looking like a horseshoe, indicating a scam,&#8221; Boles said. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to notice if you&#8217;re not looking closely, and this entices you to click.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t.webp\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/DALL\u00b7E-2024-05-31-10.08.56-A-person-sitting-at-their-computer-typing-PayPal-into-a-search-engine.-The-search-results-show-a-mix-of-legitimate-and-fraudulent-websites-at-the-t-768x768.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here\u2019s how you can protect yourself:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bookmark or save websites you visit often, especially social media and banking sites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Type in the URL yourself if you&#8217;re familiar with it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Download and use apps for the companies you frequently visit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boles demonstrated another example: &#8220;If I search for &#8216;Lowes,&#8217; it looks like the legitimate site is at the top. But this is how it redirects you.&#8221; When he clicked on the search result for Lowes that appeared legitimate, it redirected to a clearly malicious site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By following these tips, you can better protect yourself from these sophisticated scams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&#8217;re googling for answers, looking for phone numbers, or searching for a popular social media site, simple search engine inquiries can pose a threat with AI scams on the rise. An expert who spoke to ABC13 explained that attackers are exploiting &#8220;search engine optimization.&#8221; Mitchem Boles from GuidePoint Security said attackers buy ads online [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-3793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-scams","tag-scam-awareness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3796,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions\/3796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}