Google's False Crypto Ads Persist, Fake Uniswap Phishing Site Snares Another $400,000

On May 26 (Monday), on-chain analyst "b-block" took to social media to alert the crypto community about a fake Uniswap website stealing funds from multiple wallets, with the scammer hoarding assets worth over $400,000. Stacy Muur, founder of Web3 marketing agency Green Dots, shared a screenshot of fake search engine sponsorship results, calling out Google for ignoring this issue for years—fake links are outranking the real ones, fueling ongoing fund theft from users. Per Etherscan data, the two flagged addresses hold roughly 146 ETH, worth approximately $306,000. DeFiLlama notes that fake ads on Google are a common source of phishing attacks. In an April report, the Crypto Nonprofit Organization Security Alliance (SEAL) highlighted that phishing activity on Google search spiked "significantly" in March. Attackers use either hijacked legitimate ad accounts or compromised payment accounts to place highly deceptive fake ads, bypassing Google’s automated checks by using URLs that look genuine and loading malicious payloads through hidden iframes. SEAL has blocked over 356 malicious ad links, stating attackers have maintained a steady weekly deployment of Google ads for more than a year, with no slowdown in their attack campaigns. Between March 13 and 30 alone, scammers stole a total of $1.27 million. Additionally, earlier this month, there was a shared conversation linking Google ads and AI chatbot Claude to "malvertising" efforts targeting Mac users. A Malwarebytes report also points out that Facebook is another hotspot for fake ads and scams.