Hackers punish Google misspellers

Security software company F-Secure has warned Google users they risk being diverted to malicious websites if they do not type in the domain name properly.

If they type in “googkle.com” (the “k” is next to the “l” on a qwerty keyboard) and go to the address, they will get two pop-ups directing them to different sites that download malicious trojan and viruses onto their machines.

The threat relies on a low-level form of "social engineering" that has been around since the appearance of the internet, but is highly effective with search engine users in a hurry.

Some misspellings of Google still direct users to the main Google site, but not “googkle”.