News

High-end and luxury products are being advertised with huge savings4,000+ fake domains impersonating big brands have been spottedVictims are losing money without receiving their productsMore than 4,000 fake domains impersonating popular brands have been spotted in a scheme pushing scam ads targeting Facebook users.The campaign was uncovered by threat analysis from Silent Push, in a trend researchers are calling "GhostVendors," which sees scam ads for the false domains primarily run on Facebook Marketplace by exploding Meta's ad policy loopholes, with ads being removed from the Meta Ad Library upon campaign completion to prevent tracking efforts, helping attackers remain undercover.Key to the fake ads are unrealistically low prices designed to lure victims into thinking they've found a bargain – for example, researchers spotted a Milwaukee Tool chest for $129.Scam artists are luring shoppers via Facebook adsThe ads also instil a sense of urgency by using keywords like 'clearance', 'Holiday sale' or 'excess inventory', applying pressure on buyers to act promptly.Links on the ads lead to scam sites that look like their genuine counterparts through Domain Generation Algorithms and template cloning, with redirection also applied to pull victims towards malicious sites.Countless brands have been observed imitated across the more than 4,000 fake domains, including retailers (Amazon, Costco, Argos), footwear (Birkenstock, Crocs, Skechers) and gift sites (Bath & Body Works, Yankee Candle).Being that there have been so many attacks, consequences can vary. Many victims have had their payment information stolen with no goods delivered, or have experienced financial fraud. Moreover, the threat appears to be on a global scale and is not restricted to a core country or region.Silent Push says threat actors have demonstrated a deep understanding of Meta's ad systems, which have been criticized for not keeping a public archive of inactive scam ads and for not allowing holistic tracking without (prohibited) external scraping.In the meantime, potential victims (including virtually all online shoppers) are being advised to warn ads that appear too good to be true.Users can also verify the authenticity of deals by visiting websites directly. It's also recommended that online purchases are made with credit cards that come with additional protection, with direct bank transfers totally inadvisable.You might also likeThis dangerous new phishing scam spoofs a top Google program to try and hack Facebook accountsWe've listed the best identity theft protection servicesCheck out our roundup of the best antivirus software

If you’ve been experiencing issues with a single part or various parts of Google’s massive operation, or with playing your favorite songs or podcasts on Spotify, you’re not alone.Since over an hour ago, at 2 PM ET in New York City, reported issues on outage tracker Down Detector have been spiking for Google, Google Cloud, and Spotify, to the extent that Google has confirmed issues impacting its various services as of 3:01 PM ET.Spotify normally comments on issues via the @SpotifyStatus account on X (formerly Twitter), but as of now, it’s remaining silent. Now, the TechRadar team uses various parts of Google – mainly G-Suite with Docs – and hasn’t encountered issues yet, but my Spotify has been experiencing some issues with extended load times.Considering that two major services are reporting issues, this could signal larger issues with a cloud data provider like Cloudflare. Either route, we’re starting our live reporting to keep you up to date on the latest developments with the outages affecting Google and Spotify.A Quick Look at Down Detector’s homepage as of 3:25 PM ET shows that an extensive range of services are experiencing issues, with some leveling off or dropping, with Google, Google Cloud, and Spotify at the forefront, alongside Discord and Amazon Web Services (AWS).Google and Google Cloud both began spiking in the 2 PM ET hour, reaching over 10,000 reports, while Spotify also started in that hour but is currently at over 44,000 reports.(Image credit: Future)

Google reported disruptions to several of its services today. According to the company's app status page, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, Google Cloud Search, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Tasks and Google Voice are all being impacted by the problem, which began around 11AM PT/2 PM ET. "Our engineers are currently investigating the issue," the update states.

The tech giant isn't the only platform reporting issues. Spotify, Discord, Amazon Web Services and Snapchat are currently topping the charts on DownDetector. Even the Pokemon Trading Card Game is having problems.

This story is developing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-services-are-experiencing-a-partial-outage-193156690.html?src=rss