Google has filed a lawsuit against a scammer who used its online ads to perpetrate scams specifically targeting the elderly.
The defendant, a man of Cameroonian origin, He advertised basset hound puppies in the United States, but once he got the money, he never delivered them to buyers.
The fraud was perpetrated 100% under the Google advertising scheme and that is why Alphabet decided to take charge of the problem and filed a lawsuit.
The technology company alleges that the Cameroonian violated the terms and conditions of use of the platform, including online advertising, to carry out a “dog fraud scheme”.
Alphabet’s filing became effective this week in the Californian courts, in the United States, against the Cameroonian citizen Nche Noel Ntse.
The documents presented in Justice give details about the technique used by the Google scammer.
For example, it used links to web pages that included photos of the puppies and false testimonials from people who had supposedly bought other basset hounds from him before.
According to the lawsuit, the scammer manipulated victims into one-on-one conversations, convincing them to wire cash in exchange for later sending the puppies that were never delivered.
The full demandin English.
“The defendant perpetrated a protracted dog fraud scheme preying on unsuspecting and vulnerable victims. The defendant is the administrator of several web pages that are dedicated to deceiving and defrauding connected users in the United States. Some of these fraudulent websites seek to sell ‘adorable puppies’, but in reality they sought to deceive them into believing that they were legitimate, ”says part of the text of the lawsuit.
According to Alphabet, the scammer generated a large number of fake Google accounts using Gmail and Voice services.
The lawsuit later says the scam “was specifically targeting older Americans who are more vulnerable to cyberattacks.”
According to FBI data, seniors are scammed to the tune of $640 million each year in the United States.
It is Google’s goal that this lawsuit be taken as a proactive measure to set legal precedents, protect victims, clog the online infrastructure of fraudsters, and raise awareness in society.
Now read:
10 keys to prevent Internet fraud
MetaMask users warn of cyber attacker scams
“So what if I scam people?”; comic about NFTs provokes the anger of users