The GVH is investigating possible phishing ads on the Google platform

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 11. 17. 10:17

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The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has initiated competition supervision proceedings against Google. Fraudulent sites misusing the name of MBH Bank may have appeared as paid advertisements in Google’s search engine, the GVH told MTI on Monday.

According to the GVH’s suspicion, Google Ireland Limited (Google) did not properly check the phishing advertisements on its Google Ads advertising platform, which is why they may have appeared as paid content and at the top of the Google search results list.

According to the competition authority, all of this may have contributed to consumers being redirected to risky websites or being scammed for their bank login details, they wrote.

The office noticed that the American giant Its Irish-registered subsidiary, Google Ireland Limited (Google), is alleged to have failed to exercise due diligence in operating its Google Ads advertising platform since March 15, 2025.

The global technology company is alleged to have failed to adequately monitor whether phishing ads were compliant with its own policies and legal requirements, and to have failed to promptly disable phishing domain accounts, despite the fact that it should have recognized their dangers and taken the necessary measures to prevent further deception, they added.

According to the announcement, fake banking websites misusing the name of MBH Bank Plc. for phishing purposes – such as mbhbank.nu, mhbbauk.com, mhhbunk.com – appeared as paid advertisements at the top of Google search results.

If the user searched for keywords related to MBH Bank Plc. (for example: “MBH Bank login”, “MBH netbank”), these deceptive advertisements appeared in a prominent position on Google search pages, even ahead of links to the official website of MBH Bank Plc.

The GVH According to the Commission, this commercial practice was likely to induce the consumer to make a transactional decision that he would not have made. With this conduct, Google likely violated the legal provisions prohibiting unfair commercial practices.

It was pointed out that the initiation of competition supervision proceedings does not mean that the undertaking has committed an infringement. The procedure is aimed at clarifying the facts and thereby proving the alleged infringement.

The period provided for conducting the procedure is three months, which may be extended twice, in justified cases, by a maximum of two months each time.

The GVH draws attention to the fact that, according to the Competition Act, the period from the request to the client to provide the data necessary to clarify the facts until its fulfillment is not included in the administrative deadline.

Hungary is one of the safest countries in the world, where online and cyber fraud pose one of the most significant threats to consumers and businesses.

Domestic crime statistics show that the proportion of cyber fraud among crimes is constantly increasing, so curbing it is a decisive security criterion.

According to data from the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), in 2024, online abuse and phishing cyber fraud caused more than 30 billion forints in damage to the Hungarian population – the statement says.