Security News > 2024 > April > Google ad impersonates Whales Market to push wallet drainer malware
Today, BleepingComputer was contacted about a phishing ad for the trading platform in Google search results.
A quick search for Whales Market in Google displayed a sponsored ad at the top of the search results, displaying what looks like legitimate URLs for the site.
Threat actors have been abusing Google Ads for years to distribute malware or redirect users to phishing sites and tech support scams.
As the ad platforms see the final landing page as a legitimate site, they allow the URL to be shown in the ad. However, when a regular visitor clicks on these ads, they will instead be redirected to malicious sites pushing malware, phishing attacks, or scams.
Google is not the only ones affected by malicious ads, with similar techniques used on the Microsoft and X ad platforms.
BleepingComputer contacted Google about the malicious Whales Market advertisement and how these ads can be proactively prevented in the future, but have not received a response at this time.
News URL
Related news
- Fake Homebrew Google ads target Mac users with malware (source)
- Crypto-stealing iOS, Android malware found on App Store, Google Play (source)
- Fake Google Chrome Sites Distribute ValleyRAT Malware via DLL Hijacking (source)
- Week in review: Exploited 7-Zip 0-day flaw, crypto-stealing malware found on App Store, Google Play (source)
- SpyLend Android malware downloaded 100,000 times from Google Play (source)