Google Tightens Security in Platforms By Expanding Ads Verification To Tackle Financial Scams

In a bid to curb the incessant promotion of financial scam ads on its platform by unscrupulous people, Google has decided to expand a verification program for financial services ads after discovering a “pronounced decline” in reports of ads promoting financial scams.

Few countries like Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan were the first in line to get the requirements as part of a phased expansion. However, Google has disclosed that it plans to further expand the verification requirements to advertisers in additional countries and regions in the coming months.

The verification layer sits atop Google’s financial products and services policy, looping in a local financial regulator by which advertisers must demonstrate that they are authorized to have their financial services ads accepted by Google, thereby adding a layer of security against the ad-tech giant, accepting and running ads for crypto investment scams and the likes.

In the UK the financial conduct authority (FCA) is the regulatory body that financial services advertisers must demonstrate that they are authorized by equivalent oversight bodies that will come into play in three new markets.

The search engine company has disclosed that those who want to advertise and promote financial products and services in these markets will be able to apply for verification at the end of June.

What this means is that advertisers who have not completed the new verification process rolled out by Google before the closing date will no longer be allowed to promote financial services ads.

kudos to Google for rolling out this new verification process on its platform, because there have been countless reports of people getting scammed on the it through fraudulent scam ads. No doubt, Google has for a long time earned its name as a trusted brand, not until unscrupulous people began to take advantage of the platform by posting fraudulent scam ads, knowing full well that a lot of people will be baited due to the site’s credibility.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the platform lately has been infiltrated by a lot of scammers. The reports about their fraudulent activities became too much that even before Google decided to launch its financial ads verification policy, the company has been under pressure from the FCA to tackle these fraudulent activities on its platform, or they risk a fine with legal action if the platform continues to accept unscreened financial ads.

In 2020, Google removed about 3.1 billion ads for violating its policies and restricted an additional 6.4 billion ads globally. It might interest you to know that scammers are also using Google ads to steal crypto wallets. These scammers place ads at the top of Google searches that imitates popular wallet brands, such as Metamask and phantom, to trick users into giving up their wallet passphrase and private key.

Apart from the fact that Google is working hard to protect its users from falling victims to these fraudulent scam ads, it is also important that we all play our part to avoid falling victims. We must ensure not to click on suspicious links, and also avoid giving out important bank details or crypto wallet addresses to suspicious users or filling it on suspicious sites.

With each passing day as Google intensifies its security on the platform, scammers on the other hand are also devising new methods to crank down on the security verification process. Even though Google’s algorithm is designed to select sites that look trustworthy or have the greatest search to pop up on the top of the screen, we shouldn’t be quick to assume that the results considered most authentic would always sit up at the top of your screen.

What we must understand is that these fraudsters have gamed the system by also enabling their ads to sit at the top of the screen, knowing full well that a lot of people will assume such ads to be credible.