Google is promoting ‘fake’ debt charities that could ‘trick’ you into handing over cash

GOOGLE has been accused of promoting “fake” debt charities that could “trick” you into handing over cash to clear your debts.

Help is actually available for free from leading debt charities, such as StepChange and National Debtline, but vulnerable people could be fooled into forking out for the service.

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When you type these charities into Google, the first two to three results are often adverts promising to “write off debt”.

But it’s not clear that the service comes for a fee until you’ve clicked through to the site and filled into your personal details, including how much debt you have.

It’s all to do with the way Google works – firms can pay top appear at the top of searches in an automatic bidding process.

The paid-for search results are flagged with an “ad” icon next to it but money experts and charities are warning that it could put struggling households at risk.

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“Our concern is that these impersonators can lead people into receiving unsuitable and wrong advice at a time when they are most in need of support,” said Joanna Elson from the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline.

We first reported the issue back in January last year and StepChange says that since then, it’s worked with Google to take down adverts from 50 firms pretending to be from the charity.

But The Sun has found that they still appear when searching for other charities too, including Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Money Advice Service (MAS).

Earlier this week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning about “copycat” companies pretending to be from National Debtline, and last month StepChange issued a similar warning.

Sara Williams, who runs the Debt Camel blog said only last month she spoke to someone who believed that MAS had advised them to pay to consolidate their debts.

But in reality, the person had clicked through to an unregulated service via a Google ad after searching for the charity.

She added: “It is a very big step for people to phone someone up for help with their debts.

“For them to be tricked by fake firms posing as government organisations or national charities is disgusting. I think Google should refuse to accept these adverts.”

James Daley, from Fairer Finance, branded the adverts “unethical” even though they’re not illegal, “particularly when people are vulnerable and in problem debt.”

A spokesperson for Google said: “We take dishonest business practices very seriously and consider them to be an egregious violation of our policies.

“If we find ads that violate our policies, we take swift action. We also have a tool where anyone can report ads and these complaints are reviewed by our team.”

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