Be Aware Fake Ads Electrum Wallet on Chrome

Chikito

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Quote from: Mandarava on October 28, 2020, 04:12:24 AM

Why have the chrom developers been reacting for so long and still haven't fixed it?

Not only that but also youtube.

I agree with the comment above where said ads are the problem. Maybe they don't have a specific team to handle it, Google can't detect scam ads because this case needs an investigation by a reporter and valid proof. If the people daily reporting this scam with correct proof, I think Google will thinking to continue to flagging ads like this.

more information about people complain about google ads https://support.google.com/google-ads/thread/8715211?hl=en

Mandarava

full member

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This is terrible. It seemed to me that chrome is one of those browsers that you should trust and that has not yet been got any minus. I'm using a hardware wallet, but a lot of people are likely to fall into this trap and lose money. Why have the chrom developers been reacting for so long and still haven't fixed it?

lovesmayfamilis

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Quote from: bob123 on October 27, 2020, 09:07:50 AM

Quote from: Chikito on October 26, 2020, 07:40:27 AM

hello newbie, don't search "electrum" on Google searching box, I warn you, Look at the image below;

Searching for a term on google is fine.
Not using an adblocker (like you do) is the problem as well as clicking on ads.

I'd recommend you (and every other person) to install an ad blocker.

Quote from: Chikito on October 26, 2020, 07:40:27 AM

So, don't use chrome anymore.

While people definitely shouldn't use google chrome, this is not the reason for that.
Without an ad blocker, you'll see those ads in every browser, not just chrome.

A good suggestion is to use browser ad blockers. But if we talk about newbies, then they should be warned that adblockers are also different and can themselves provoke a switch to phishing sites. Fake ad blockers collect information about user activity and can influence which sites the user visits.
Just read the data of how many people, out of inexperience, use such blockers.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/10/popular-chromium-ad-blockers-caught-stealing-user-data-and-accessing-accounts/?comments=1

Quote

Evidence collected to date shows that the extensions are covertly uploading user data and gaining unauthorized access to at least one website, in violation of Google terms of service and quite possibly applicable laws. Google has already removed the extensions from the Chrome Web Store and issued a warning that they aren’t safe. Anyone who had either of these extensions installed should remove them from their machines immediately.

https://www.hackread.com/20-million-chrome-users-have-installed-fake-malicious-ad-blockers/

erep

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Quote from: Asuspawer09 on October 27, 2020, 11:38:04 AM

Still, even a simple antivirus or even the windows Security is detecting this as dangerous sites.

It looks like it was recently updated because there have been reports of phishing but the possibility of phishing ads in Google search in the future is still there, I am very worried that the security of AdWords ads does not filter out phishing cases and "indirectly" provides an opportunity for this scammer to act. We have to warn anyone that the address of the official wallet website must be bookmarked and never access it from a search engine.

DdmrDdmr

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There are lies, damned lies and statistics. MTwain

Quote from: Asuspawer09 on October 27, 2020, 11:38:04 AM

<...>

There is an interval of time though, in which the antiviruses may not detect anything, until the reports come in. For example, I ran Virustotal yesterday on the fake site, and got no negative ratings. Currently it displays four, but some other well known antiviruses on the list still do not mark the site (and may not, at least from VirusTotal’s engine):

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/d12cb925f431147057e3ba4e8a20ade5582ead5a4dd9485511ea4633bbe37e80/detection

Asuspawer09

sr. member

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I mean only newbies are gonna click something from an advertisement right? Especially when it comes to bitcoin wallets like Electrum.

It's always better to have a trusted source first before clicking something on the internet.

Still, even a simple antivirus or even the windows Security is detecting this as dangerous sites.

taufik123

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Quote from: bob123 on October 27, 2020, 09:07:50 AM

Searching for a term on google is fine.
Not using an adblocker (like you do) is the problem as well as clicking on ads.

I'd recommend you (and every other person) to install an ad blocker.

Using an adblocker is indeed quite effective in blocking annoying advertisements and sometimes finding scam or phishing ads which are of course very dangerous. I've been using an adblocker for a long time and it's working well. The adblocker I use is a feature provided by the antivirus I use. This feature also detects which websites are safe to visit.

Quote from: bob123 on October 27, 2020, 09:07:50 AM

While people definitely shouldn't use google chrome, this is not the reason for that.
Without an ad blocker, you'll see those ads in every browser, not just chrome.

yups, not only the chrome browser, even all brochures will have the same impact if we click on the ad. Automatic ads will appear in all applications associated with the account used. so don't be afraid to use chrome. Security is in the users themselves.

bob123

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Quote from: Chikito on October 26, 2020, 07:40:27 AM

hello newbie, don't search "electrum" on Google searching box, I warn you, Look at the image below;

Searching for a term on google is fine.
Not using an adblocker (like you do) is the problem as well as clicking on ads.

I'd recommend you (and every other person) to install an ad blocker.

Quote from: Chikito on October 26, 2020, 07:40:27 AM

So, don't use chrome anymore.

While people definitely shouldn't use google chrome, this is not the reason for that.
Without an ad blocker, you'll see those ads in every browser, not just chrome.

Kong Hey Pakboy

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I tried using different browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera Mini, and the results were the same when I tried to search the Electrum wallet on google. I think the reason why this phishing website is on the top maybe because many people had clicked on this site when they tried to look or search about Electrum. Sometimes, we should use a separate device when we tried to search our browsers because not all sites we see on Google are safe to visit.

Coyster

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Quote from: Lucius on October 27, 2020, 05:27:44 AM

Of course, much of the responsibility for such scams lies with Google, which has no effective mechanisms to filter such ads, but all we can do is report such ads - which is actually the eternal game of cat and mouse.

Of course we can have some rights to blame Google for playing part in some of this scams by not doing a thorough security check of ads, by filtering them and removing the scams, but I believe more of the responsibility should be on the users, with dex crypto, users should be more careful on how they use the internet especially when their coins are in 'hot' storage.

This rule of thumb has been repeated times without number: always use official websites to search for wallets, exchanges etc and not through Google search. Imo, if more users will take up the responsibility of their funds, then we may never have to worry if Google filters their ads or not, cause everyone will go through the safe and secure process.

Lucius

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Quote from: cryptowhitewalker on October 26, 2020, 11:51:05 AM

An eye opener, i appreciate your direct tipping on security-wise operations. Anyone can tell that scammers are really on a scamming rampage.

In the past, in order to rob someone, you had to rob a bank, break into someone's house/apartment and something like that - and today thieves sit in comfortable armchairs in front of their computers, hiding behind VPN/TOR, figuring out ways to get hold of someone's crypto. The rules of the game have changed, and anyone who doesn’t realize how dangerous the internet is are in great danger. Crypto users are an extremely vulnerable category, and therefore one should never give up warning and educating new and existing users.

Of course, much of the responsibility for such scams lies with Google, which has no effective mechanisms to filter such ads, but all we can do is report such ads - which is actually the eternal game of cat and mouse.

Lorence.xD

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Quote from: aioc on October 26, 2020, 10:31:16 AM

Another way to check is the alexa ranking I have installed Alexa toolbar so I can check the traffic stat phishing site will always have a very low traffic stats here is the real Electrum traffic stat This site ranks:
#58,288

of course besides checking the PGP.

That traffic tracker is a new for me, I have heard of similar sites that have this sort of function. I will check this one out, and I think this deserves a topic of itself because it can help you identify sketchy sites from the real one. The problem with the website mentioned is that it is an ad so we can't rule out that it really is a scam site because no one visits ads that much in my opinion, I am not saying that the site is legit too but with the mindset that every site traffic rank is the basis of legitimacy will be detrimental for sites that are overshadowed by scam site.

OcTradism

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- Search but remember to do double checks.
- Don't believe in any source, verify (links and wallet)
- How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum
- Bookmark or save links to spreadsheets for future use and try to remember important websites. Remember or not, always verify.

Electrum has wallet for mobile but get app download links from the official website, not search app from Apple Store or Google Play.

Chikito

legendary

Activity: 2366

Merit: 2054

it seems only the chrome browser will direct me into fake elekclrum when I tried using Firefox, that link direct me into official electrum.

Link already dead. Thanks to people who have reported that link immediately.

Code:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

AB de Royse777

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Quote from: aioc on October 26, 2020, 10:31:16 AM

Another way to check is the alexa ranking I have installed Alexa toolbar so I can check the traffic stat phishing site will always have a very low traffic stats here is the real Electrum traffic stat This site ranks:
#58,288

of course besides checking the PGP.

Making a decision judging by the traffic of the site :-D
Interesting thought but I would say the most stupid idea :-P

Taking your idea anyone can make a site, put a fake file there and rank it on google. Have other contents so traffic will start flowing and you will find the page in the first page. You know you are downloading a fake wallet :-D

Anyway, always verify no matter what - if you want to stay safe with your crypto money.

cryptowhitewalker

newbie

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Merit: 0

Quote from: Lucius on October 26, 2020, 10:50:36 AM

cryptowhitewalker, this is nothing new, we certainly have dozens of fake Electrum sites every day that are advertised through Google Ads, but also through various crypto related advertising platforms and via Telegram, FB or Twitter. It is impossible to prevent scammers from doing this, since it is very easy and cheap to buy a domain+hosting and create an advertising campaign - so when surfing it is mandatory to use ad blocker, and when using social networks do not communicate with strangers.

The Internet is a dangerous place, adapt or become just another in a series of helpless victims.

An eye opener, i appreciate your direct tipping on security-wise operations. Anyone can tell that scammers are really on a scamming rampage.

DdmrDdmr

legendary

Activity: 2338

Merit: 10802

There are lies, damned lies and statistics. MTwain

The effect should indeed not be browser related, but rathermore search engine based, unless other installed browsers have some sort of Ad blocking features running.

Strangely enough, if I access the fake domain right now, what I get is the real original domain. They seem to have temporarily redirected the traffic to the real site, probably to switch it back to their fake content at will.

I stumbled upon a site to see if a given web is being redirected. Note that I haven’t used this site before, so I’ll enclose it here in code tags:

Code:

https://www.redirect-checker.org/index.php

When I parametrize it with the fake url into the above webpage, I get the following result:

Quote

Result
https[colon]//elekclrum[dot]org/#home
302 Found
https[colon]//electrum[dot]org/
200 OK

Problems found:
You use a 302 redirect. This means, that the actually content is temporary not reachable and will come back soon. To use a 302 redirection for generally moved pages is a bad idea. Search engine bot might not follow it or handle it as temporary. For SEO this is also a bad idea, because no link juice will be transferred to the linked page.

Note: I changed dots for [dot] and the colon for [colon] above.

Lucius

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cryptowhitewalker, this is nothing new, we certainly have dozens of fake Electrum sites every day that are advertised through Google Ads, but also through various crypto related advertising platforms and via Telegram, FB or Twitter. It is impossible to prevent scammers from doing this, since it is very easy and cheap to buy a domain+hosting and create an advertising campaign - so when surfing it is mandatory to use ad blocker, and when using social networks do not communicate with strangers.

The Internet is a dangerous place, adapt or become just another in a series of helpless victims.

cryptowhitewalker

newbie

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This is a serious case! And it's still up there for hours, for a popular wallet like Electrum i can't imagine how many will fall for this Embarrassed

aioc

hero member

Activity: 2926

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Another way to check is the alexa ranking I have installed Alexa toolbar so I can check the traffic stat phishing site will always have a very low traffic stats here is the real Electrum traffic stat This site ranks:
#58,288

of course besides checking the PGP.

Topic: Be Aware Fake Ads Electrum Wallet on Chrome (Read 258 times)