ITmedia News Article

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police say an SNS-style investment fraud group manipulated search results to show positive or reassuring content when scam-related names were searched.

Police warned that search-based AI summaries may also surface false reassurance, making scams harder to spot and easier to trust.

The tactic involves SEO poisoning and related search-spam methods to contaminate results and steer victims away from suspicion.

Authorities urge people not to rely only on search results or AI summaries when checking whether something is a scam.