In 2025 Scammers Have Stolen $835M from Americans Using Fake Customer Service Numbers (straitstimes.com) 26
They call it "the business-impersonator scam". And it's fooled 396,227 Americans in just the first nine months of 2025 — 18% more than the 335,785 in the same nine months of 2024. That's according to a Bloomberg reporter (who also fell for it in late November), citing the official statistics from America's Federal Trade Commission:
Some pose as airline staff on social media and respond to consumer complaints. Others use texts or e-mails claiming to be an airline reporting a delayed or cancelled flight to phish for travellers' data. But the objective is always the same: to hit a stressed out, overwhelmed traveller at their most vulnerable.
In my case, the scammer exploited weaknesses in Google's automated ad-screening system, so that fraudulent sponsored results rose to the top [They'd typed "United airlines agent on demand" into Google, and the top search result on their phone said United.com, had a 1-888 number next to it and said it had had 1M+ visits in past month. "It looked legit. I tapped the number..." ]
After I reported the fake "United Airlines" ad to Google, via an online form for consumers, it was taken down. But a few days later, I entered the same search terms and the identical ad featuring the same 1-888 number was back at the top of my results. I reported it again, and it was quickly removed again... A [Google] spokesperson there said the company is constantly evolving its tactics "to stay ahead of bad actors." Of the 5.1 billion ads blocked by the company last year, she said, 415 million were taken down for "scam-related violations." Google updated its ads misrepresentation policy in 2024 to include "impersonating or falsely implying affiliation with a public figure, brand or organization to entice users to provide money or information." Still, many impostor ads slip through the cracks.
"Reported losses from business-impostor scams in the United States rose 30 per cent, to US$835 million, in the first three quarters of 2025," the article points out (citing more figures from the America's Federal Trade Commision). An updated version of the article also includes a response from United Airlines. "We encourage customers to only use customer-service contact information that is listed on our website and app."
And what happened to the scammed reporter? "I called American Express and contested the charge before cancelling my credit card. I then contacted Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, to put a fraud alert on my file. Next, I filed a complaint with the FTC and reported the fake ad to Google.
"American Express wound up resolving the dispute in my favour, but the memories of this chaotic Thanksgiving will stay with us forever. "
After I reported the fake "United Airlines" ad to Google, via an online form for consumers, it was taken down. But a few days later, I entered the same search terms and the identical ad featuring the same 1-888 number was back at the top of my results. I reported it again, and it was quickly removed again... A [Google] spokesperson there said the company is constantly evolving its tactics "to stay ahead of bad actors." Of the 5.1 billion ads blocked by the company last year, she said, 415 million were taken down for "scam-related violations." Google updated its ads misrepresentation policy in 2024 to include "impersonating or falsely implying affiliation with a public figure, brand or organization to entice users to provide money or information." Still, many impostor ads slip through the cracks.
"Reported losses from business-impostor scams in the United States rose 30 per cent, to US$835 million, in the first three quarters of 2025," the article points out (citing more figures from the America's Federal Trade Commision). An updated version of the article also includes a response from United Airlines. "We encourage customers to only use customer-service contact information that is listed on our website and app."
And what happened to the scammed reporter? "I called American Express and contested the charge before cancelling my credit card. I then contacted Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, to put a fraud alert on my file. Next, I filed a complaint with the FTC and reported the fake ad to Google.
"American Express wound up resolving the dispute in my favour, but the memories of this chaotic Thanksgiving will stay with us forever. "
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I don't know if Google has been caught out as dramatically as ; but based on the sorts of ad impressions they deliver their standards are clearly pretty low or apathetically applied, and more or less the same perverse [reuters.com]
Effective solutions? Where's the money? (Score:2)
Why feed the sock puppet and propagate the vacuous Subject?
In solution terms, it seems like a waste of time to say much, but I think the money could be cut off. Consider the numbers this way: Lots of targeting but only a few suckers. If some small fraction of the targets would help they could overwhelm the tiny number of suckers and prevent the scammers from getting any money.
I'm not saying the scamming spammers would become decent human beings. I'm saying that they would crawl under less visible and theref
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You: I shot his ass for scamming me!!
Police: How do you know that he was scamming you?
You: I just know, so there.
Police: Welcome to Law Enforcement. Think nothing of the handcuffs we are putting on you. You'll soon be all warm in cozy in the clink awaiting your arraignment. Have a nice day!
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Forget about crypto and stocks, gullibility is at an ATH.
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As George Carlin observed (paraphrase), God knows all and sees all, yet he cannot manage money. As Letitia James observed (paraphrase), el Bunko is good at nothing, not even at hiding his financial crimes.
That seems lucrative (Score:2)
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GAAS: Gullibility As A Service
Re:That seems lucrative (Score:4, Insightful)
Just be sure to steal enough so you get placed in minimum security white collar jail.
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First step, move to Pakistan or Nigeria, or one of the other countries where these scams originate. Enforcement is light in such countries, which is why the scams originate there. Of course, this is a result of law enforcement being corrupt, meaning your own personal safety will be compromised. These countries are rife with petty crime, you cannot safely walk the streets.
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Contact Us (Score:5, Insightful)
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Your Computer is Infected! (Score:2)
I wonder how much of the total dollar amount is related to fake Microsoft full-screen scam warnings. These things have been going for years. Remember when web sites used to be able to easily open pop-up windows with ads? Remember how quickly that stopped when browsers had better handling? Why has the same not been done for full-screen mode? End users do not know how to get out of these.
Identity Theft Applied to Companies (Score:2)
Search ads are an attack vector (Score:2)
I switched from Google to Bing and then to Kagi because Bing was just as bad. At the time I wasn't thinking about fraud, just about the nuisance of trying to distinguish between legit results and ads, but reading this makes me even more glad I switched.
Kagi is by subscription, but it's pretty cheap, so it's my default now. The big ones are admittedly better at some things, so I do fall back to them once in a to while, it's not often.
Kagi also supports excluding crap sites, and that alone is worth a lot.
What a shame (Score:2)
It'd be an even bigger shame if the number was published and thousands upon thousands of people used it and spent the time on the call complaining about stupid stuff like the pilots not being hot enough, the vegetarian meal option not containing any meat, the lack of Girls Gone Wild videos in the in-flight entertainment center, etc.