Google To Nix All Tech Support Provider Ads (itnews.com.au)

Google will restrict advertisements placed by third-party technical support providers, in an effort to stem a rising tide of abuse and fraud by scammers who offer to fix non-existent problems on consumers' computers. Report says: The restriction for tech support ads comes after Google collaborated with law enforcement and government agencies to address abuse in the area, the company's director of public policy David Graff wrote. All ads for technical support will be restricted worldwide, even for legitimate providers, Graff said. Google's banned such ads because the company finds it increasingly difficult to tell scammers from legitimate providers, as the fraudulent activity happens away from the company's platform.

Comments

Good for Google - It's a real problem

[Torodung]

I had an experience a few months ago where I typed in "Netgear support" and the first hit I got was an ad for some firm that claimed it could fix routers. At the time, it was not clear that it wasn't Netgear support, and they claimed to be Netgear, both in the ad and on the phone. It was only until they asked for $100, for support on a brand new router, that I realized they weren't. I immediately terminated the call.

They called back, again claiming they were "Netgear" (I had given them a callback number). I was rather upset that Google provided their ad result as the first item for Netgear. They were running a scam. I eventually got to real Netgear support, and they helped me with my problem.