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Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
How scammers are using ‘Google AI Overviews' to fool you
Searching online for help with a booking or a service is supposed to be convenient, but for some Google users, it has turned into a costly trap. Google's AI Overviews feature, introduced to provide users with quicker answers at the top of search results, has now been linked to promoting fraudulent customer support numbers, which is leading unsuspecting users into scams. Google's AI Overviews have come under fire for surfacing scam support numbers.(Pexels) How Scammers Exploiting Search Results Recently, a Facebook user, Alex Rivlin, shared that he had searched for a Royal Caribbean shuttle booking contact on Google. The AI Overview displayed what appeared to be an official number at the top of the results. Rivlin called and spoke to someone claiming to represent the company. The caller asked for his credit card to confirm the booking and later demanded additional fees and personal information. Suspicious of the requests, Rivlin ended the call. Shortly after, he noticed unauthorised charges on his card, which he managed to block. The experience showed how easily scammers could appear legitimate when their numbers are surfaced through AI. Also read: iPhone 17 Pro vs Google Pixel 10 Pro: What to expect from the upcoming flagships Further investigation revealed that the same phone number was also being used to pose as support lines for other cruise operators, including Disney and Carnival's Princess line. The scam itself is not new, but artificial intelligence has expanded its reach. Fraudsters typically plant fake phone numbers across multiple websites, forums, or review pages. Once these numbers are repeated often enough, search systems may recognise them as reliable information. With AI Overviews, these numbers are now appearing directly in search summaries, making them even more convincing. Also read: iPhone 17 Pro launch: 3 major camera upgrades you can expect over iPhone 16 Pro Not the First Case The pattern is not new. Earlier this year, a Reddit user reported a similar case while searching for Southwest Airlines' support line. The AI summary displayed a fake number, which connected the user to a scammer. Because AI Overviews collect data from across the web, they can unintentionally amplify fraudulent listings that have already been seeded online. Even a manual search can sometimes show those same numbers on pages that look authentic, which makes it harder for users to spot the deception. The scale of the problem raises concern. According to StatCounter, about one in four Google searches in the United States displayed AI Overviews in the second quarter of 2025. That level of visibility gives scammers broad opportunities to target people searching for customer support. Also read: Scam alert: Fake 'Telegram Premium' site spreading Lumma Stealer malware Google has yet to issue a public statement on these incidents. Until then, experts suggest that users avoid relying on AI-generated summaries when looking for company contacts. Instead, they recommend using official company websites or trusted directories. At a time when online scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, it is crucial to verify a phone number before dialling. This could prevent financial loss and the theft of personal data.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Google's AI overviews can send you straight to scammers. Here's how to stay safe
Google's AI overviews have come a long way since its debut when the AI tool had suggested users to eat rocks and add glue in pizza. Since then, the feature has become a mainstay on Google Search and the company wowed by its success, Google has also accompanied it with an AI mode on Search. However, the feature still remains far from reliable as a recent report by Digital Trends found out. When users relied on Google's AI overviews to get the official customer care number of a company, they were instead directed towards the number of scammers. 'I'm sharing this as a public service announcement. With AI-generated results and spoofed numbers, the game has changed,' Alex Rivlin, owner of the company, said in a Facebook post. He added that he managed to escape at the last moment, but not before he had already handed over his credit card details to the bad actor. A businness owner named Alex Rivlin shared his experience with AI overviews in a post on Facebook, stating, 'I pride myself on being cautious. I don't click links, I don't give personal info over the phone, and I always verify. But I still got caught in a very sophisticated scam' Rivlin noted that while looking for the cusotmer service number of Royal Caribbean on Google, he was given a number that wasn't real and was instead run by a scammer. While Rivlin managed to escape the scam at the last moment, he had already shared his credit card details to the bad actor by then. This isn't a one off case by any chance, though, a few months a Reddit user Stimy3901 shared on the platform that while trying to Google 'how to fix a misspelled name on Southwest', they were given a fake number of the airlines by AI overviews, and trying to contact the number would result in scammers asking for hundreds of dollards to the change the name. Another Reddit user, ScotiaMinotia, shared in a post how searching for British Airlines customer led them to a scam number. The user did not, however, that the overview has been fixed since then.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Google's AI pointed him to a customer service number. It was a scam.
Alex Rivlin was tackling a last-minute task for his European vacation. That's how he got snagged in an artificial intelligence-enabled scam. Rivlin, who runs a real estate company in Las Vegas, needed to book a shuttle to catch a cruise ship. From his kitchen table, he searched Google for the cruise company's customer service number, chatted with a knowledgeable representative and provided his credit card details. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Rivlin said that the number he called was highlighted in Google's 'AI Overviews' - AI-generated responses to some web searches. The next day, Rivlin saw fishy credit card charges and realized that he'd been fooled by an impostor for Royal Caribbean customer service. He'd encountered an apparent AI twist on a classic scam targeting travelers and others searching Google for customer help lines of airlines and other businesses. I found the same number he called appearing to impersonate other cruise company hotlines and popping up in Google and ChatGPT. Welcome to the AI scam era. Experts warn that old scammer and spammer tricks that have swamped the web, social media, email and texts are now also manipulating AI information - and Rivlin is among an early wave of victims. 'I'm pretty technologically advanced, and I fell for this,' said the founder of the Rivlin Group at lpt Realty. I'll walk you through how to guard against experiences like Rivlin's, and what companies such as Google should do to stop crooks from warping AI information. - - - How scammers fooled Rivlin and Google Rivlin told me that the bogus customer service number and the impostor representative were believable. The rep knew the cost and pickup locations for Royal Caribbean shuttles in Venice. He had persuasive explanations when Rivlin questioned him about paying certain fees and gratuities. The rep offered to waive the shuttle fees and Rivlin agreed to pay $768. Rivlin said that he was suspicious of oddities, including an unfamiliar company name that came through on the credit card charge. When two bogus card charges landed the next day, Rivlin knew he'd been tricked. He canceled his credit card and the charges were reversed. Rivlin mostly blames the crooks and himself for falling for the scam. But I've seen so many versions of similar trickery targeting Google users that I largely blame the company for not doing enough to safeguard its essential gateway to information. So did two experts in Google's inner workings. Here's how a scam like this typically works: Bad guys write on online review sites, message boards and other websites claiming that a number they control belongs to a company's customer service center. When you search Google, its technology looks for clues to relevant and credible information, including online advice. If scammer-controlled numbers are repeated as truth often enough online, Google may suggest them to people searching for a business. Google is a patsy for scammers - and we're the ultimate victims. Google's AI Overviews and OpenAI's ChatGPT may use similar clues as Google's search engine to spit out information gleaned from the web. That makes them new AI patsies for the old impostor number scams. 'Manipulating these new answer engines using techniques from 30 years ago is like shooting sitting ducks,' said Mike Blumenthal, analyst at Near Media, a consumer search behavior research company. (Blumenthal told me about Rivlin's Facebook video relaying his experience.) Blumenthal and I found Google and ChatGPT identifying the same number that fooled Rivlin as a customer service number for other cruise lines, including Disney and Carnival's Princess line. In a statement, a Google spokesman said that AI Overviews and web search results are effective at directing people to official customer service information for common types of searches. The spokesman said that the company has 'taken action' on several impostor number examples I identified and that Google continues to 'work on broader improvements to address rarer queries like these.' Royal Caribbean's customer service number is 1-866-562-7625, which the company says it shows on its websites, apps and invoices. Disney and Princess didn't respond to my questions. OpenAI said that many of the webpages that ChatGPT referenced with the bogus cruise number appear to have been removed, and that it can take time for its information to update 'after abusive content is removed at the source.' (The Washington Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.) - - - What you and companies can do to ward off this scam - Be suspicious of phone numbers in Google results or in chatbots. Rivlin said that he looked for Royal Caribbean's customer service contact number in its app. No luck. Google or chatbots are natural next spots to look for business numbers, but it's worth being extremely careful of numbers they show. Eyeball associated links in Google or ChatGPT before you call. Read more advice on fake customer service scams. - Why is Google making it easier for scammers? The company knows the long history of people being fooled by bogus customer service numbers they find in search results. You'd be safer if Google didn't show AI Overviews - which seem like authoritative 'answers' - for business number searches, said Lily Ray, vice president of search engine optimization strategy and research at the marketing firm Amsive. 'By allowing AI Overviews to appear for business phone number queries, they're opening up a new opportunity for scammers - and one that scammers are clearly already using to their advantage,' Ray said by email. Ray and Blumenthal say that Google has databases of vetted information, including for businesses, and that the company should ensure search and AI results only grab information from there. Back home this week after a great trip, Rivlin said that he's watching for more bogus charges or attempted identity theft. And Rivlin wants to spread the word that even being well informed about scams and a believer in AI didn't make him immune to AI-enabled trickery. 'I can't believe that I fell for it,' he said. 'Be careful.' Related Content Ukraine scrambles to roll back Russian eastern advance as summit takes place Her dogs kept dying, and she got cancer. Then they tested her water. D.C.'s homeless begin to see the effects of Trump's crackdown Solve the daily Crossword
