Misleading ads repeatedly dupe Google users, CBS News New York Investigation finds
It's the most popular search engine, and one of the most profitable companies in the world. So why does Google sell advertisements to people purporting to be companies they are not?
CBS News New York's Tim McNicholas, a regular Amtrak rider, recently Googled "Amtrak customer service," and the first three results showed websites and phone numbers that don't belong to Amtrak, even though the links stated "Amtrak" or "Amtrak Phone Number."
Two of the sites, vactionntravel.com and travelonumbers.com, even have self-described Amtrak booking pages, boasting of a "user-friendly platform" that "allows you to reserve your seats ... hassle-free."
"I think that's pretty terrible," Laura Black said.
Black said she called the number on another site, thereservationsdesk.com, and paid $356 to upgrade her Amtrak trip from New Orleans to Charlottesville back in March.
"It was a fraudulent ticket," Black said. "I was actually really shocked that you can Google something and the top hit, it's a scammer? Like, how does that happen? So I guess I felt betrayed by the process a bit."
Amtrak and Google both describe the listings as "scams," so how do they rise to the top of the search results? Turns out, they are sponsored listings, or ads, and Google says it has now suspended the accounts of those advertisers.
The listings linked to a phone number so you didn't even have to visit the website before calling.
In 2020, McNicholas shared the warnings of a mom from the Chicago suburbs who sent $5,000 to a Google advertiser pretending to be Apple customer support.
"My guard was completely down," Abbey Coffey said at the time. "I get those phishing emails, you don't click on the link it's a scam, but I called them. So me calling them, my guard was completely down."
Google would not agree to an interview for this story, but said in an email it removed 146 million ads last year for misrepresentation. A spokesperson said that figure includes ads that were blocked before posting, and also ads that were already live on Google.
"That makes me wonder what's going on in the process that they got to put those ads up in the first place? Is there not any sort of background check?" Black said.
Google says all ads go through either automated or human reviews, but alleged fraudsters are constantly adapting and sometimes find ways to show Google different content than they later show users.
McNicholas called the numbers he found during his Google search, and the people who answered claimed to offer tickets cheaper than what Amtrak was offering. When asked, a self-described employee with vacationntravel.com said that the company is not Amtrak but is authorized to sell Amtrak tickets. He denied any knowledge of the company's Google ad, which included a link titled "Amtrack [cq] Phone Number" above a phone number that does not belong to Amtrak.
"Is there maybe a manager or owner who can give us a call?" McNicholas asked.
He never heard back, so he moved on to the number Black called and whoever answered said they don't sell train tickets and know nothing about thereservationsdesk.com.
McNicholas discovered shortly after he reached out that the website had been taken down.
"Now I have to fight with my credit card. It's gonna be two months 'til I see that money back, if I see it back. There's no guarantees, and it's unfortunate," Black said.
Amtrak says customers should stick to booking through Amtrak.com, the Amtrak app, 1-800 USA RAIL, or in-person at a train station.
The company also says it has an internal team dedicated to working with search engines to scrub what Amtrak considers scams.
