Google Search Trap? How Indians Are Losing Crores To Fake Websites

A Google search usually feels like the safest place to start.

Need a customer-care number? Search Google. Looking for a government-related service? Search Google. Want to book a service, make a payment or find a company? Search Google.

But there is a catch.

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In several cases, the website that appears in front of you may look completely genuine and still have nothing to do with the organisation you are looking for.

Scammers are increasingly creating fake websites that copy logos, colours, layouts and customer-care pages of genuine businesses and organisations. Some even use domain names that look almost identical to the real ones.

The trap is simple. A consumer searches for a service, lands on a convincing website and is asked to pay an advance. In other cases, a fake customer-care executive steps in and asks for card details, OTPs or other sensitive information.

By the time the consumer realises something is wrong, the money may already be gone.

India's Rs 22,495 Crore Cyber Fraud Problem

The scale of India's wider cyber-fraud problem shows why such traps cannot be ignored.

India recorded around Rs 22,495 crore in reported losses to cyber fraud in 2025, according to figures cited by the Press Information Bureau. Around 28.15 lakh complaints were reported during the year. The figure covers cyber fraud broadly and is not limited to fake websites.

Ashwini Kumar, Founder of DiReFTY, a digital reputation safety platform, told NDTV that the problem works because consumers have developed a powerful digital habit: trusting what appears prominently in search results.

"Fake websites work because they exploit one of the strongest forms of consumer trust today: the assumption that if something appears prominently in a Google search, it must be genuine," Kumar said.

Fraudsters can replicate logos, website designs and customer-care pages to make the operation appear legitimate. That means checking whether a website looks genuine is no longer enough.

The Fake Customer-Care Number Trap

One of the easiest ways for scammers to exploit search behaviour is through fake customer-care numbers.

The Reserve Bank of India has specifically warned consumers about fraudsters manipulating search results to display fake customer-care numbers for banks, insurance companies and other organisations. A consumer may call the number believing it belongs to the company and then be asked to share card or other sensitive details.

The RBI advises customers to obtain customer-care details directly from the official website of the bank or company rather than blindly using numbers displayed in search results.

This is where the fake-website scam becomes particularly dangerous. The website may have a "Contact Us" page. It may have a phone number. It may even have a person answering the call. But none of these things prove that the website is genuine.

How The Scam Can Play Out

The first step is usually a simple Google search. A consumer searches for a service and clicks on a website that appears convincing.

The website then asks for an advance payment. The amount may appear small enough to avoid suspicion. Once the consumer engages, the fraud can escalate.

A fake agent may call and claim that the payment failed. The consumer may then be asked for card details, OTPs or other information. In some cases, scammers may ask the victim to install remote-access software or share other credentials.

The objective is the same: turn a simple search into access to the consumer's money or personal information.

Google itself defines phishing as attempts to obtain sensitive information by pretending to be a trusted entity. Its policies specifically prohibit fake websites designed to collect information such as credit-card details by impersonating known businesses.

7 Things To Check Before Paying

According to Ashwini Kumar, consumers most follow these guidelines to avoid cyber fraud through fake websites:-

1. Check the domain name: Look carefully at the website address. A spelling difference, extra word, unusual extension or misplaced character can be a warning sign.

2. Don't trust the first result blindly: A high position in search results is not proof that a website is the official one.

3. Find the official website independently: For banks, government departments and major companies, start from the organisation's known official website or verified social-media account.

4. Be suspicious of advance payments: An unexpected request to pay immediately should trigger a pause. Compare the payment instructions with those provided on the organisation's official channels.

5. Never share OTPs or UPI PINs: No genuine customer-care representative needs your UPI PIN. Consumers should also never share banking passwords, card PINs or OTPs for "verification".

6. Don't blindly call numbers found in search: This is particularly important for customer-care searches. The RBI has warned about fake numbers appearing in search results.

7. Preserve evidence: If something goes wrong, save the website URL, screenshots, payment confirmation, phone numbers, emails and chats. Do not delete them.

Already Paid? Act Fast

The most important step after a financial cyber fraud is speed. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal asks victims of financial cyber fraud to report the incident immediately through 1930. Complaints can also be filed online through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

The government portal also allows users to report suspicious website URLs, phone numbers, email IDs and other identifiers even when they are reporting an attempted cybercrime.

The faster a transaction is reported, the more quickly banks, payment intermediaries and law-enforcement agencies can attempt to stop the movement of the money.