FIGURES
- FBI: Criminals buy search adverts with web addresses that resemble real businesses, leading to copied sites and fake download pages that install malware. Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, public service announcement I-122122-PSA, 21 Dec 2022, https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2022/PSA221221
- FTC: Scammers buy search adverts in another company's or a government service's name. Don't assume a phone number in search results is real. Source: Federal Trade Commission, consumer alert, 3 Apr 2025, https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/04/online-search-results-good-bad-scammy
- FTC: The Commission is asking whether search engines, social media and marketplaces should vet advertisers and keep impersonation ads from reaching consumers. Source: Federal Trade Commission, advance notice of proposed rulemaking, 24 Sep 2026, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/09/ftc-seeks-public-comment-whether-update-rule-impersonation-government-businesses-address-platforms

DEMAND SIGNALS (vidIQ, 25 October 2026)
- New this week, chosen from official alerts: the US Cyber Command warned about sponsored search result scams in October 2026, and the Federal Trade Commission asked in September whether platforms should block impersonation adverts.
- YouTube searches for this exact problem are still low (vidIQ, 26 October 2026), so a video now arrives early.