Up until the last week or so, one of the most reliable ways I’ve found for discovering tech support scam websites and phone numbers was to search Google for “123.hp [.] com/setup” (scrambling it to prevent the auto-hyperlink). Scammers would buy sponsored links to their fake HP, Canon, Brother, Epson, etc. websites, hoping that victims would click the link thinking they were going to the official website.
I think most people here are familiar with this type of scam. But in the last few weeks these ads have disappeared for me, regardless of how I fiddle with browser settings, cookies etc.
Has Google or someone else cracked down on these scam ads? Has anyone else noticed this?