Google reiterated that it had purged 3.2 billion bad ads of various kinds in 2017, and pointed to past crackdowns on shady behavior categories such as rehab centers and bail bond services. It characterized the tech support verification system as a logical extension of this approach -- it needed to screen advertisers when it was becoming "increasingly difficult" to tell the bogus services from the real providers.

The tougher stance followed shortly after the Wall Street Journal discovered some egregious examples of fraudulent tech support ads, such as one that posed as an official Apple service but directed people to a scammer's phone line. These rip-off campaigns certainly aren't new, but the findings may have prompted Google to offer a stronger response.