Ask HN: Is Google AI Overview giving you scam phone numbers?

[CreepGin]

Today my wife was trying to cancel a GEICO policy. She searched for "geico home insurance phone number". On top of the results page in the AI Overview section, it gave out a phone number (1-800-442-9393) in the first sentence. So my wife called. The guy on the other end didn't ask anything insurance-related and just went straight for home address and credit card information. She got scared and hang up shortly after.

Later on, we checked the number and couldn't find any reference to it online. And what's even weirder was that when we tried to search for the same query again, it gave a completely different number (still not affiliated with GEICO).

Anyone has similar experience?

[toomuchtodo]

Google’s AI pointed him to a customer service number. It was a scam. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44943089 - August 2025 (3 comments)

[CreepGin]

Wow that's less than a month ago. I wonder if this kind of stuff is picking up steam.

> Rivlin told me that the bogus customer service number and the impostor representative were believable.

My wife said it was the persistent CC# inquiry combined with the heavy Indian accent that put her on alert.

[rolph]

this scam relies on e-mail as an authority.

the assumption the e-mail is from a certain sender, just because they say so, has to be deleted from the workstream.

anytime there is a need or urgency insinuated, be critical.

cut out the middleman contact using info from what you know is a real source, such as your agents card, or policy documents. never use info from the e-mail

dont ever believe e-mail, dont ever click on anything even if you think its real, go to the actual page through your browser, or call your agent directly

[codingdave]

Yeah, AI makes up numbers all the time. We all know hallucinations are a thing, but it hits hardest on numbers. Read the fine print at the bottom of every Google AI result: "AI responses may include mistakes".

You gotta verify such things independently.