Today in "ad blockers are Internet security software":
Ars Technica, "Address bar shows hp.com. Browser displays scammers’ malicious text anyway.": https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/06/tech-support-scammers-inject-malicious-phone-numbers-into-big-name-websites/
Malwarebytes, "Scammers hijack websites of Bank of America, Netflix, Microsoft, and more to insert fake phone number": https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2025/06/scammers-hijack-websites-of-bank-of-america-netflix-microsoft-and-more-to-insert-fake-phone-number
TL;DR: Scammers buy search engine ads linking to legit websites' help pages with a pre-filled help query, but the query bar text is a message to call the fake-support phone number.
Block ads, even in your go-to search engine.
Block ads, *especially* in your go-to search engine.
One of my customers got completely turned off to ad blockers in general because the ad blocker that came up when they looked for one to install was Total Adblock.
Total Adblock promises to block all ads, but it allows the sweetest malvertising targets in the free edition & nags for payment more often than ads themselves.
I won them back on side by removing it, installing uBlock Origin by Raymond Hill, & showing them how to use it, getting their fully informed consent at each step of the way.
Do get an ad blocker.
But probably not one that has less than a 4.0 out of 5 stars in the browser's extension/add-on store.
