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Misleading ads repeatedly dupe Google users, CBS News New York Investigation finds

Misleading ads repeatedly dupe Google users, CBS News New York Investigation finds

CBS News22-05-2025

It's the most popular search engine, and one of the most profitable companies in the world. So why does Google sell advertisements to people purporting to be companies it is not?
CBS News New York's Tim McNicholas, a regular Amtrak rider, recently Googled "Amtrak customer service," and the first three results showed websites and phone numbers that don't belong to Amtrak, even though the links stated "Amtrak" or "Amtrak Phone Number."
Two of the sites, vactionntravel.com and travelonumbers.com, even have self-described Amtrak booking pages, boasting of a "user-friendly platform" that "allows you to reserve your seats ... hassle-free."
"I think that's pretty terrible," Laura Black said.
Black said she called the number on another site, thereservationsdesk.com, and paid $356 to upgrade her Amtrak trip from New Orleans to Charlottesville back in March.
"It was a fraudulent ticket," Black said. "I was actually really shocked that you can Google something and the top hit, it's a scammer? Like, how does that happen? So I guess I felt betrayed by the process a bit."
Amtrak and Google both describe the listings as "scams," so how do they rise to the top of the search results? Turns out, they are sponsored listings, or ads, and Google says it has now suspended the accounts of those advertisers.
The listings linked to a phone number so you didn't even have to visit the website before calling.
In 2020, McNicholas shared the warnings of a mom from the Chicago suburbs who sent $5,000 to a Google advertiser pretending to be Apple customer support.
"My guard was completely down," Abbey Coffey said at the time. "I get those phishing emails, you don't click on the link it's a scam, but I called them. So me calling them, my guard was completely down."
Google would not agree to an interview for this story, but said in an email it removed 146 million ads last year for misrepresentation. A spokesperson said that figure includes ads that were blocked before posting, and also ads that were already live on Google.
"That makes me wonder what's going on in the process that they got to put those ads up in the first place? Is there not any sort of background check?" Black said.
Google says all ads go through either automated or human reviews, but alleged fraudsters are constantly adapting and sometimes find ways to show Google different content than they later show users.
McNicholas called the numbers he found during his Google search, and the people who answered claimed to offer tickets cheaper than what Amtrak was offering. When asked, a self-described employee with vacationntravel.com said that the company is not Amtrak but is authorized to sell Amtrak tickets. He denied any knowledge of the company's Google ad, which included a link titled "Amtrack [cq] Phone Number" above a phone number that does not belong to Amtrak.
"Is there maybe a manager or owner who can give us a call?" McNicholas asked.
He never heard back, so he moved on to the number Black called and whoever answered said they don't sell train tickets and know nothing about thereservationsdesk.com.
McNicholas discovered shortly after he reached out that the website had been taken down.
"Now I have to fight with my credit card. It's gonna be two months 'til I see that money back, if I see it back. There's no guarantees, and it's unfortunate," Black said.
Amtrak says customers should stick to booking through Amtrak.com, the Amtrak app, 1-800 USA RAIL, or in-person at a train station.
The company also says it has an internal team dedicated to working with search engines to scrub what Amtrak considers scams.

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How Stablecoins Are Changing Global Finance
How Stablecoins Are Changing Global Finance

Forbes

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  • Forbes

How Stablecoins Are Changing Global Finance

Stable Coin. Stablecoins Cryptocurrencies Stable Market Price Value Coin Currency. The U.S. Senate has taken a major step toward regulating stablecoins by advancing the GENIUS Act—a bill that could reshape the digital finance landscape. Still under discussion, the legislation proposes strict reserve and transparency rules for issuers and signals growing government interest in crypto oversight. Stablecoins are crypto tokens that are typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. They allow users to transact within blockchain ecosystems without the volatility of traditional cryptocurrencies. Today, two clear leaders dominate the market. Yet, while Washington begins drafting policy, stablecoins have already found product-market fit in places far beyond Capitol Hill. The global use of stablecoins is growing steadily, regardless of whether the market is in a bull or bear phase. In Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and among crypto-native startups, they've quietly emerged as a preferred tool for payments, payroll, and preserving value in unstable economies. So what does this bottom-up adoption mean for the future of global finance? Are stablecoins here to stay, or will they be replaced by Central Bank Digital Currencies? And if they are here to stay, how to ride this trend? According to DefiLlama, the current market capitalization of stablecoins is around $250 billion, which is still a small share of the global M2 money supply, approximately 1%. In other words, we're still early. To understand where the growth might come from, it's worth examining what stablecoins are used for—and why they've become so popular. Stablecoins market capitalization. The first is USDT (Tether), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. Interestingly, Tether has also emerged as one of the most financially efficient companies in the world on a per-employee basis. According to a tweet published by Avichal Garg, co-founder of Electric Capital, the company generated an estimated $85.6 million in profit per employee in 2024: Profit per Employee (USD) vs. Company The second major player is USDC, issued by U.S.-regulated firm Circle. The company went public on June 5, under the ticker CRCL, with its stock surging over 200% on its first day of trading—pushing its market capitalization above $20 billion, according to Barron's. These two companies currently dominate the stablecoin space. Others worth mentioning include: • USDS (formerly DAI), which started as a decentralized stablecoin but has become only partially decentralized due to its large holdings of U.S. Treasuries and USDC. • USD1, a politically charged entrant tied to Donald Trump's network, which has generated some discomfort among Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Maxine Waters (D–Calif.), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, voiced strong objections during a joint hearing on digital assets, stating: 'I object to this joint hearing because of the corruption of the President of the United States and his ownership of crypto and his oversight of all of the agencies.' Stablecoins are enjoying instant product-market fit: everyone needs access to crypto dollars — a version of the U.S. dollar that can be easily converted back to fiat, yet offers several advantages over traditional USD. While much of the attention on stablecoins focuses on regulation and market cap, their real momentum comes from how they're being used: The most obvious example of stablecoin usage is international payments. Sending U.S. dollars across borders with the traditional banking system typically involves SWIFT. Banks charge between $5 and $50 per transaction, often around $20, regardless of the transfer amount. That means sending $1,000 could cost users up to 2–5% in fees. In addition, the SWIFT transfers can take several business days to settle. Compared to transferring the same amount via stablecoins, even in the worst case, fees might only be a few dollars, and the transaction typically settles within minutes. That's at least 10 times cheaper and potentially 100 times faster. There's also another major benefit: users avoid capital controls, currency conversion hurdles, and heavy compliance bottlenecks, particularly relevant when sending money from or to countries with restrictive financial systems. The second use case — using stablecoins as a means of payment — is less advanced, largely due to regulatory inertia. Governments generally want citizens to transact in their local currencies, and stablecoins challenge that sovereignty. The lack of clarity discourages businesses from accepting them, especially given the lingering memory of Operation Choke Point, when certain industries were unofficially cut off from banking services. Despite the current U.S. administration's relatively crypto-friendly stance, the stablecoin bill GENIUS Act has yet to pass through Congress. This uncertainty keeps most merchants and payment providers on the sidelines. Once clear legislation is enacted, trust in stablecoins like USDT and USDC will likely surge. As for CBDCs, a concept that is often met with skepticism in the cryptocurrency community, the need for a government-backed digital dollar seems increasingly unnecessary. According to U.S. Treasury International Capital data, Tether's treasury holdings alone rival those of sovereign investors like Germany or Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Circle's portfolio is comparable to that of Thailand or Sweden. With such significant exposure to U.S. debt and growing political opposition to CBDCs—including campaign promises from Donald Trump to block their development—stablecoins may have already secured their place as the preferred digital dollar infrastructure in the United States. The third major use case—decentralized finance —is where stablecoins are already thriving. They serve as the foundational currency for DeFi applications, enabling lending, borrowing, swapping, yield farming, and more—all without centralized intermediaries. The functionality mirrors traditional finance but with key advantages: it's global, permissionless, and often more efficient. According to Dune Analytics data in the DeFi Report 2024–2025 , approximately 151 million wallet addresses interacted with DeFi protocols in 2024. While this figure likely includes duplicates, it provides a useful upper bound for estimating user activity. By comparison, World Bank data from 2021 shows that 4.6 to 4.9 billion people used traditional banking services globally. This also underscores the early stage of adoption of DeFi. But, once frameworks are established, DeFi usage could accelerate rapidly. Following these three cases, it's fair to say that stablecoins are here to stay. And this may only be the beginning: as crypto infrastructure intersects with artificial intelligence, stablecoins could enable AI agents to transact autonomously, unlocking programmable, real-time finance. So, how can investors position themselves to benefit from this trend? There are many ways, some of them look obvious, like buying CRCL as it has become a public company, or investing in Coinbase stocks (COIN), a company which is steadily growing its own layer two DeFi ecosystem. Some are more complicated, like finding companies to invest in that adopt stablecoins in their operations — for payments, payroll, or international transfers — and which are likely to scale faster than their peers, thanks to lower costs and global reach. Check Stripe, PayPal, and Deel as examples. On the decentralized side, assuming a favorable regulatory framework materializes, in a next way of adoption, DeFi applications could rapidly pull users away from traditional banks. In that case, there is significant upside in owning tokens or equity in platforms like Uniswap, Aave, or even Hyperliquid — all of which are well-positioned to become foundational players in the next generation of financial infrastructure. Derivative DEX trading volumes. But don't forget the risks to watch. Transformation won't come without resistance. The banking lobby remains one of the most powerful political forces in the world, and it's unlikely to welcome a shift toward 'magic internet money' without a fight. Regulatory headwinds, political gridlock, and coordinated opposition from legacy institutions are all real risks investors should keep in mind. But we know that fortune, at least in markets driven by emerging technologies, often favors the brave.

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