Google Allows Scammer to Punk MalwareBytes

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It's long been my opinion that Malwarebytes is the only security you need to purchase, beyond the stuff built into Windows 10.

Time to renew the license today. I can never remember the URL, so I always go to google and search for Malwarebytes to make sure I get to the legitimate site.

As is often typical, Malwarebytes paid text ad came up as the first result.

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I usually click on the non-paid link immediately under the paid one; why should the company have to pay for a click to Google when that is what I was searching for in the first place. I didn't pay particular attention that the 2nd listing was also a paid ad. When I got there, I clicked on the link to download and immediate got a BLOCK page from the real Malwarebytes already installed on my PC warning that there was a virus attached to this link.

My first thought is, why is Malwarebytes blocking their own links? Then I noticed that is was a .work site. Ohhhhh, Nice. Google sold ads to a scammer. The ironic part of this is, that as an advertiser on Google ourselves, they just made us jump through hoops to verify that we were a real legitimate company before we could continue to advertise using their AdWords. (This is reportedly to combat ad fraud, and I suspect it has something to do with the election too.) Had to provide a scan of our corporate document, Tax IDs, and a scan of my photo ID. Well, when I scanned my license, it was up against the top of the scanner and maybe the top 1mm was cut off; but, this was just clear laminate and nothing was obscured. Google keeps kicking our verification back because of this. So, just to be stubborn, I kept resubmitting the same exact scan. Keep in mind that we're the freaking customers here.

While all this is going on, some Google employee with a deep Indian accent keeps calling and leaving voicemails (probably 8 or more) and emails saying that he was there to help us through the verification process. I picked up one time and decided to talk to him. I explained what happened and he just keeps going back to the speech about he was going to walk me through the simple process step-by-step. I said NO, I have submitted this 3 times, and I'm not doing it again. There is nothing wrong with the scan I sent in. He said, but, they've already disabled your ad serving. I said, I don't care. Frankly, Facebook was delivering better results anyway.

He called again I answered and repeated the above. A few more emails came. I thinks ads had been disabled for a month by now. Finally, one day I get an email saying we have passed the verification and the ads were running again. 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

I guess they didn't give the scammers from malwarebytes (dot) work the same scrutiny.

Yes, I am one stubborn SOB.

P.S. I checked a few minutes ago and the .work ad is gone. Not sure if it got zapped or just wasn't being served to me anymore because I had already seen it or they surpassed their daily budget. I called Malwarebyte and left them a message as soon as I saw it.
 
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