Fake Ads Posing as Real Companies Are All Over Search and Social Media. The FTC Wants to Hear About Them

What happened: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking the public whether search engines, social media sites and online marketplaces should have to do more to stop ads that pretend to be real companies or government agencies. Anyone can send in a comment, and the deadline is Monday, Nov. 30.

What this means for you: Fake ads are hard to spot. If you've ever clicked a sponsored search result that led to a copycat site, or seen a "giveaway" from a well-known brand that turned out to be a trap, the FTC is asking for stories like yours. Small businesses whose names get borrowed by scammers can weigh in too. Until anything changes, the safest habit is simple: type a company's web address yourself instead of tapping the ad.

The details

Impersonation is the kind of fraud people report to the FTC most. People told the FTC they lost about $16 billion to fraud in 2025, 25 percent more than in 2024. The imposter numbers stand out:

Those are only the losses people reported. Adjusted for underreporting, the FTC estimates the true cost of fraud in 2024 may have been as high as $195.9 billion.

The FTC already has a rule against pretending to be a government agency or a business. It's called the Impersonation Rule, and it was finished in March 2024. That rule goes after the scammers. It doesn't directly cover the websites and apps that sell the ads and help make them work better, and that's the gap the FTC is now looking at.

The notice describes "platforms" as public websites or apps where other companies sell things through paid ads or listings. It names Google.com, Facebook.com, Amazon.com, the Apple App Store and LinkedIn.com as examples of the kind of site it means. Those sites offer ad tools that write ad text, create images and videos, and pick which people see each ad, often using their demographic details, the sites they've visited and what they've searched for. The same tools work just as well for a scammer as for a real business. The notice sums up the problem in one line: "Platforms internalize the revenue but externalize the risk."

The FTC points to a few common examples:

• Fake Medicare ads aimed at seniors on social media.
• Fake brand giveaways, like ads pretending to be McCormick spices that send people to fraudulent websites.
• Fake hotel booking sites that buy search ads and show up above the hotel's own website.
• Fake bank ads at the top of sponsored search results when people look up their bank.

Did you know? The FBI warned about this trick back in December 2022. Scam ads were showing up at the very top of search results, with very little to set them apart from real results, and linking to pages that looked identical to the real company's site. When people searched for a program to download, some fake pages handed them malware named after the program they wanted.

What the FTC might do

Nothing is decided yet. This notice is an early step called an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, which means the FTC is gathering facts before it writes any rule. It published the notice in the Federal Register on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The ideas on the table include making platforms:

Another option would make those steps a "safe harbor," a way for a platform to avoid liability under a new rule by following them, instead of a strict requirement. The FTC also asks how any rule would affect small businesses that advertise, and what it would cost them.

How to spot an imposter ad

You don't have to be a tech expert. A few habits help.

• Look at the web address before you click. Fake ads often use an address that's close to the real one, with a typo or a misplaced letter.
• Type the address you know, or use a bookmark, for your bank or a government office.
• Be wary of ads at the very top of search results. They're paid placements, and in the hotel cases the FTC describes, the fake sat above the hotel's own site. Scroll down to the regular results.

The FBI also suggests an ad-blocking browser extension for searches. You can turn most of them on and off for individual sites.

What to do now

1. Report the ad where you saw it. On Google Search or YouTube, tap the menu icon on the ad and choose Report ad. Or open My Ad Center, go to Your recent ads, find the ad and select Report ad. Another option is the Ads Transparency Center, where you search by advertiser name or website, pick the ad and select Report this ad. Google emails a confirmation once you submit. On Facebook and Instagram, look for a report option in the ad's three-dot menu.
2. If you lost money or shared personal details, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Reports there go to more than 2,000 law enforcers. You can also report it to the FBI at ic3.gov.
3. Tell the FTC what you saw by Nov. 30. Go to regulations.gov and open the comment page for docket FTC-2026-1552 (the direct link is in the References below). At the top of your comment, write "16 CFR Part 461—Impersonation Rule, Matter No. R207000." Describe the ad, where and roughly when you saw it, and what happened next. The FTC notes that comments backed by evidence carry more weight.
4. Leave out private details. Your comment, including your name and your state, goes on a public website. Don't include your Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number or any bank or card numbers.
5. Prefer paper? Write the same "16 CFR Part 461" line on the comment and the envelope, and send it by overnight service to Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex P), Washington, DC 20580. Mail to the FTC is slowed by extra security screening.

If your business is the one being copied

Small-business owners get hit twice: customers lose money, and the business takes the blame. A few steps help. The FBI recommends domain protection services that alert you when someone registers a web address similar to yours. Tell your customers plainly where your real website and real downloads live. When you find a fake ad using your name, search the Ads Transparency Center for it and report it there. The FTC asks specifically whether imposter ads hurt small businesses differently than big ones, and a business owner's comment answers exactly that question.

One detail to know before you hit Submit: once a comment is posted on regulations.gov, the FTC can't redact or remove it unless the agency's General Counsel grants a formal confidentiality request.

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References

• Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses (Federal Register, Oct. 1, 2026)
• Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses, advance notice of proposed rulemaking (FTC, PDF)
• Comment on FTC-2026-1552-0001 (Regulations.gov)
• Cyber Criminals Impersonating Brands Using Search Engine Advertisement Services to Defraud Users (FBI IC3, Dec. 21, 2022)
• How to report an ad (Google Ads Help)
• ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC)