Scammers using a nasty search engine "hack"

I'll try to keep this brief, but had to share. Avoid or be very careful using a search engine as a convenient way to find the customer service number of your online retailer. The picture I took and posted is from a relative's screen, and it was a very close call. Look carefully at the search results and you will see the spelling is a bit different, just missing vowels, but close enough to fool the eye if you are just looking for a phone number.

In a way it is similar to those phishing emails, sometimes with odd grammar or something else that is slightly off enough to flip you into suspicion mode. Also, we are naturally suspicious of things pushed to our attention. In this case there is an active search initiated on a platform that is trusted, using our own bias to trust our own actions - sneaky as hell.

In this case a call was made, and the "agent" requested navigation to a web page, clicking a link to download software to install, which then installed a popular remote control program. By sheer luck I intervened before anything else could happen - removed the programs and tightened security settings. It could have been far, far worse.

The online retailer was notified and sent the screenshot with a description of what transpired. They were very grateful and I am pretty sure they acted quickly and alerted the search engine, and perhaps others, as entering those keywords no longer returns the same result - fake number now omitted. I can only see the fake result showing on one other search provider that has declined in popularity over the years.

Please be careful - and please remind everyone you know to take extra precautions online. If you think this post is worth sharing, please like and re-share. You could be helping to save someone you love from the horror of being hacked.

Thanks.