As we enter the festive season, it's the peak time for scammers online, but luckily the FBI stepped in and recommended the use of ad blockers to stay safe.
In a recent public service announcement, the agency warned that fake ads can sit at the top of search results, indistinguishable from the results themselves, and can be highly persuasive when posing as legitimate brands.
The FBI mentioned that the ads may pretend to be from cryptocurrency exchanges, and clicking on them can lead to malware being installed on your system, sensitive data being stolen, and ultimately your money.
stay safe
Other recommendations from the agency include checking the URL before clicking on a link to make sure it's legitimate by checking for misspellings and typing the web address directly into your browser.
In its advice to businesses, the FBI recommended using domain protection services to receive notifications when similar domain names are registered and to notify customers of any impostor websites.
Ad blockers do what they say: they prevent ads from appearing in your browser. Its main advantage is preventing long-loading and intrusive ads like videos from getting in your way and slowing you down.
However, they also prevent these ads from tracking you, which prevents big data collectors like Google and Facebook from discovering your online browsing habits, whether on computers or mobile devices.
For that reason, the agency's announcement is unlikely to sit well with big tech, which appears to be walking a tightrope between trying to roll back their use without disrupting the extensions' large user base.
Recently, the popular ad-blocker uBlock Origin complained about upcoming Chrome API changes that seem intended to prevent it and other ad-blocking extensions in Chrome browsers from working. Chromium-based browsers include Microsoft Edge and Opera.
Google also confirmed this summer that VPN apps on Android devices that block ads will no longer be available on the Play Store.