PSA: Do not trust Google search results. Always verify URLs.

I know many are already aware of how to avoid scams, but some users need to hear this: Google search results cannot be trusted alone to determine if a website is legitimate.

Scammers will create sponsored ads that appear at the top of search results, and scam websites can appear organically in non-sponsored results. For example, on two recent posts (1 – 2), users were presented with sponsored search results linked to fraudulent websites.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid fraudulent search results and verify website URLs:

1. Use an ad blocker to block sponsored search results. However, be aware that this will not block fraudulent results that appear organically.
2. Check the URL every time you use the platform. If you have visited the legitimate website multiple times, check your browser history. Additionally, bookmark every trusted URL that you use, and stack them in a folder if you have too many. Always try to use known, safe, direct URLs from bookmarks.
3. Check the URL on https://who.is/; if the domain name was recently registered, this could be a red flag.
4. Find articles from established news sources. Use Google News and search for the platform name; if there are media articles written about the platform on trusted media sources (i.e. CoinDesk, Bloomberg, etc.), they may contain a link to its official website.
5. Check the social accounts on various platforms, such as Twitter or others, for the URL. Be aware that scammers could also deploy fake social accounts, so inspect the account carefully and do not trust this alone.

I hope that this information helps users who are relying on Google search results to access crypto websites. This is not a comprehensive list, but just a few quick and easy tips. If anyone has more safety tips, feel free to share them in the comments. Safe trading!