Google’s New Generative AI Search Results Lead to Scam Websites

Search Generative Experience (SGE) is Google’s upcoming generative artificial intelligence (AI) search feature. Google first allowed users to opt into the Google SGE results in May 2023. Google recently began rolling out this feature to a small sample of random users who have not yet opted in. Selected users will see a brief AI-created overview above the Google search engine results. The “Ask a follow up” box allows users to add more details or ask follow-up questions.

However, users are urged to exercise caution with AI-generated responses, as researchers identified that Google’s SGE results may lead to scam sites. The listed websites promoted by SGE used the .online Top-Level Domain (TLD), identical HTML templates, and the same sites to perform redirects indicating that they are likely part of the same search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning campaign. Upon clicking one of the listed websites in the search results, users may undergo a series of redirects until they reach a scam site. These scam sites often host fake CAPTCHAs or fraudulent YouTube sites that push a request to subscribe to browser notifications. Scammers use browser notifications to send unwanted advertisements directly to the operating system’s desktop, even after the website in the browser has been closed. Once subscribed, these spam advertisements redirect users to fake giveaways, unwanted browser extensions, spam subscriptions, and tech support scams.