Bug causes Google to list malicious websites in searches for ‘CoinMarketCap’ Bug causes Google to list malicious websites in searches for ‘CoinMarketCap’
Google is displaying phishing websites as the first few search results when users search for CoinMarketCap.
1 min read
Updated: Oct. 27, 2022 at 6:40 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Binance‘s CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted to warn that Google displays phishing websites when users search for CoinMarket Cap.
Zhao said users who try to add smart contract addresses to their MetaMask wallets are the ones that get most affected by this error.
Google displays phishing sites when users search CMC. This affects users adding smart contract addresses to MetaMask using these phishing sites. We are trying to contact Google for this, and in the meantime alerting users about this through social channels. pic.twitter.com/3q4860Jl4H
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) October 27, 2022
According to Zhao, the Binance security team detected the problem and is trying to reach out to Google to fix the issue. At the time of writing, Google hasn’t returned or made any changes.
Phishing attacks
The number of hacks, phishing attacks, and scams increases together with the expansion of the crypto space.
A recent report from Immunefi revealed that the Web3 space lost over $428 million to hacks and scams in the third quarter of 2022. A total of 39 incidents were included in the report, which didn’t include phishing attacks. But they have been growing in number, effect, and sophistication. The community also noticed their spread as they became the newest form of high-tech fraud.
Phishing attacks drew considerable attention in February when OpenSea lost around $2 million worth of NFTs to a phishing attack. Since then, numerous other projects have also lost millions to phishing attackers.
In May, an attacker phished $1.5 million worth of NFTs from Moonbirds. In July, leading decentralized exchange Uniswap’s V3 LPs suffered another phishing attack and lost over $4.7 million.
Most recently, leading exchange platform FTX’s users were targets of a phishing attack and lost over $6 million. While responding to the attack, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried published a thread on Twitter and acknowledged the stat phishing scams had come. He said:
“Usually, phishing looks like an email, and it has a bad attachment or something.
In crypto, the scams have gotten sophisticated.
For instance–we have a team of people who work to make sure fake FTX clones don’t gain prominence.”
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Author 
Zeynep Geylan
Zeynep is an academic who turned to crypto in 2018. Originating in social sciences, she is especially interested in the social impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and strongly believes in their transmuting power.
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In this article
Binance
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
OpenSea
OpenSea is a decentralized peer-to-peer marketplace for buying, selling, and trading NFTs.
FTX
FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.
Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as “CZ,” is a notable figure in the cryptocurrency world, primarily for founding and leading Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.