Google apparently approved a ad for a phony target gift card balance checker that’s meant to steal your funds. It appears that Google inadvertently approved a prominent ad for the phony balance checker.

A Reddit user on r/assholedesign discovered the slip-up while searching Google for a’gift card balance’. The site is actually a site called’bristolhirevan’.

The actual target site requires you to sign in to check your gift card balance. The site still has the’ bristolhirevan’s domain and the site does n’t connect to a weekly ad or a gift registry. If you were really in a rush, you might accidentally enter a gift card’s number and security code here, resulting in it getting stolen.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission reported that victims of gift card scams lost a total of $ 148 million within the first nine months of 2021 – more than all of 2020. Target gift cards are apparently scammers’ cards of choice.

Fake balance checker sites often hide in plain sight – apparently even as ads on Google. Ftc says scams often take place over the phone.