this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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Wait, so are they injecting the number into the actual legit support website, or does this only show up in the google search results as the wrong number, but following the link directs you to the legit site? The article is kinda unclear on which it is.
Heres thr gist I got from it: Scammer buys sponsored link, link has extra bits on URL.
Website operator's page loads, but blindly accepts extra info from the clicked URL (for prefilled search terms) and displays that in their own search bar's text input field.
The Apple and HP examples show this decently, the scammer text/phone number is just sitting as search input.
Blame whoever, but seems like this is on the website operators/developers as much as $boogeyManSearchEngine.
That makes sense, thank you!
The title makes is sound like that but its search site paid searches.
My understanding is they buy sponsored ads, the link goes to a fake Netflix support site, and you call their phone number.
They attackers are using query parameter to fill in their support number on the official sites search bar, adding ?q= to the end of the URL.