Google Blamed for Mortgage Fraud

Google has a policy of prohibiting deceptive advertising, such as those placed by mortgage fraudsters, however one group says the giant search engine company doesn't typically ban misleading ads from a questionable advertiser until after a company is sued by federal regulators. The nonprofit is calling for the company whose name has become a verb to be more proactive.

Consumer Watchdog has complained in a Feb. 8 letter to the Federal Trade Commission that Google and other search engines have not only been profiting by accepting deceptive advertising from fraudulent operators, but have also essentially been an accomplice in crime and should be made to stop "its harmful behavior."

The issue at hand is that outfits that falsely promise unwary consumers that they can solve their mortgage and credit problems have cost individual consumers thousands of dollars, and sometimes even their homes, while Google allegedly has been raking in the bucks from these deceptive advertisers that pay thousands of dollars for prime advertising space on Google searches.