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This article was published on April 12, 2016

Google clamps down on websites with ‘social engineering’ download scams


Google clamps down on websites with ‘social engineering’ download scams Image by: Google

Google’s security team is taking ever-greater steps to protect you from scammers on the Web, now warning you with a pop-up if you’re about to visit a site that might try to dupe you with ‘social engineering’ download buttons, ads or other content.

Google Safe Browsing classes things as bad content if they pretend to be from a trusted party, like your OS provider, and try to trick you into handing over details that you’d only entrust to a company that you already use.

Often the content mimics the look and feel of the site, making browsers increasingly less able to trust what is real.

Google said:

Our fight against unwanted software and social engineering is still just beginning. We’ll continue to improve Google’s Safe Browsing protection to help more people stay safe online.

The company has admitted that some sites might initially be flagged for offering this kind of content even though they don’t, but you should be able to iron that out using the Search Console.

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