DuckDuckGo has greatly improved its Scam Blocker to protect users from a wider range of digital threats. These include fake online stores, fraudulent cryptocurrency exchanges, and scareware scams that pressure users into buying fake security software.
This update comes amid growing concerns, as consumers reported $12.5 billion in fraud losses to the FTC in 2024 alone.
Unlike other companies that rely on Google’s security tools, DuckDuckGo uses its own system. This system processes threat information anonymously with help from cybersecurity partner Netcraft. Importantly, no user browsing data is shared with third parties.
Broader Protection Against More Scam Types
The upgraded Scam Blocker now defends against:
- Fake investment and cryptocurrency websites that steal financial data.
- Scareware that displays false virus alerts to trick users into buying bogus software.
- Phishing sites pretending to be trusted services to steal login details.
- Malware sites that automatically download harmful files when visited.
- Malicious ads that infect devices through ad networks without needing user clicks.
These new protections cover the rare 0.1% of threats that most blockers miss.
When a threat is found, DuckDuckGo stops the webpage from loading and shows a warning. This lets users safely leave the risky site.
Privacy-Focused Threat Detection
Scam Blocker works using two privacy-first layers:
- A local threat list stored on the user’s device, updated every 20 minutes from Netcraft’s live scam database.
- Encrypted checks done anonymously by DuckDuckGo’s servers for very rare threats, without sharing user data.
This method is different from browsers like Chrome and Safari, which send data to Google’s Safe Browsing service. DuckDuckGo’s Scam Blocker works automatically with no accounts needed on both desktop and mobile versions.
Users with DuckDuckGo’s Privacy Pro can extend this protection to all their internet traffic, even when using other browsers, via the DuckDuckGo VPN.
This upgrade highlights DuckDuckGo’s strong focus on privacy-first security. As online scams grow more sophisticated and costly, these improvements provide crucial protection against evolving digital threats.
