Brisbane crypto exchange Coinstash says scammers bought Google search ads impersonating its brand, sending users to fake login pages, and that Google was slow to remove them. Brand impersonation in paid search is a live risk for any business with a login or a loyal customer base.
If a scammer can outbid you on your own brand name, the search results are not as safe as your customers assume.
An Australian crypto exchange says scammers are buying Google ads that impersonate its brand, and that Google was slow to take them down. It is a brand-safety problem hiding inside the search results you do not control.
Coinstash, a Brisbane exchange founded in 2017 by Ting Wang and Mena Theodorou, said it was left livid after fake sponsored search ads sent users to fraudulent login pages built to steal their credentials. The scammers dodged Google's checks with slightly misspelled domains, an extra letter in the name, or odd endings like .site, and their ads appeared above Coinstash's own results. The founder accused Google of failing to protect consumers by not removing them quickly.
This is not niche. Brand impersonation in paid search is one of the most common ways scammers reach real customers, and the platform selling the ad is the one letting it through.
Why it matters
Your brand name in the search bar is meant to be the safest click a customer makes. When an impersonator's ad sits above your real listing, the customer's trust in you takes the hit, even though the fault sits with the ad platform. For any business with a login, a payment page or a loyal customer base, this is a live risk, and waiting for the platform to act is not a plan.
The year Coinstash was founded, now fighting scam ads that impersonate its brand in Google search
What to do about it
You cannot stop scammers from trying. You can make your brand the hardest one to fake, and stop assuming the platform will do it for you.