India "scam centres" using Google ads to target victims

[Dieselboy]

I came across a google ad promising money, like one of the investment ads where the guy says he'll show you all his secrets. So I clicked on it because it was suspicious and I got taken to this investors website where it wanted name and email address. I put in dummy info. This then takes me to a "trading" website where an account was created for me and I only need to fund the account. The trading site was showing that it was operating out of Docklands, London in the next building where I used to work. I also got an email from the trading company (saying they could not reach me (fake mobile number I had entered)) and they wanted to discuss the funding and trading.

Initially I thought the trading company was legit, so I used their online chat. Bit of research done, the company does not exist in Docklands and is not in the directory for the building they have on their website. Their email came from Google Workspace. The phone nnunmber is "020 4"  which I believe is a SIP number extension for London area code (I recently ended my 020 3 "London" number which was trunked to my phone system here in Australia). Clearly Indian-English language being used in the chat.

I have reported the advert and domains. These scammers are not shy of spending money to be successful in their scam attempts. They run legitimate businesses in India to launder the stolen money through them. Scamming is a multi-million dollar industry. Warn your friends and family. The more people know about them and how they operate will hopefully make it easier to spot. Essentially, their scams only work if they can fake a trust level to get their foot in the door. At this point if their foot is in the door and trust is lost, the person being scammed may not know how to get out of the situation (or understand if they can).


Second, I have been noticing these mobile game adverts on youtube. The adverts for the games look pretty cool. there are about 5 or 6 different scenarios of the same game which I have seen. The games are 3D and  basically look like GTA 3D. One of them is like a mafia type game and shows the guy with text next to him "Lv.1 hitman" and then he walks around a corner and sees a robbery and he's given the choice "help police" / "help robbery" and he seems to be able to level up that way.
Another game is like a zombie outbreak game but the same mechanics. The guy runs away from his female companion and she gets attacked by zombies. Again with multiple choice type things.
Anyway I wanted to check out this concept of 3D multiple choice on the mobile so I installed it - what I found is that the game is nothing like the advert. Its actually text based and not 3D at all. I see more and more of these ads, with spelling mistakes as well. I have my suspicions on these. Watch out.

[deanwebb]

Everything is a Trojan Horse: there are so many protections on the mobile platforms, the attackers use things to get you interested enough to install their apps. Once the app is on, watch out on the permissions it tries to take for itself.

[Dieselboy]

I just worry for friends and family that don't really know about technology too much.

That youtube ad was linking to:

Code Select Expand

1. rochaintuetwsfid.xyz
2. https://bochaintepbip.xyz

And then each of the above linked to a fake broker:

Code Select Expand

1. linked to spxmarkets.com
2. linked to ibexmarkets.com

[Dieselboy]

Now youtube are showing this new / old scam [1]

Why are youtube/google partaking in scams? If you as an individual assist another person who is breaking into a 3rd persons home, you will be prosecuted once caught.

In this case, I doubt google are willing to take on the ownership of fault for anyone that has found themselves at a loss due to falling for a youtube advert scam. I'm no lawyer but I would hold google accountable for participation;
1. receiving money for displaying the youtube ad
2. targetting people to be scammed
3. scamming the individual as an accomplice to the scam

I'm dissapointed with google and I expect more from them. They are literally all-in with A.I. They can use what they already know there to vet these ads for scams.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/5b2wme/quantum_code_internet_scamming_done_right/

I've reported to my google AM again. Those previous scam google workspace sites are still there also and I have reported this everywhere that I can - no one cares / no one seems to care.

[deanwebb]

Yeah, Google is sold out and will use algos to ruin your life.