DuckDuckGo is doubling down on privacy and security with a massive update to its Scam Blocker. The popular browser now blocks even more shady websites, including fake online stores, sketchy crypto platforms, and scareware that tries to spook you into installing bogus antivirus software.
It’s all built directly into the DuckDuckGo browser, and it works automatically the moment you open it. There’s no sign-up process, no account needed, and no personal data sent to third parties. Most browsers rely on Google to flag dangerous sites – which means sharing your activity with Google. DuckDuckGo avoids that entirely. Its protections were designed independently and pull threat data from Netcraft, not Silicon Valley.
This update arrives at a time when online scams are exploding. According to the FTC, Americans lost more than $12.5 billion to online fraud in 2024. DuckDuckGo’s Scam Blocker aims to reduce that number by identifying common traps and blocking them before they load.
The list of threats is long: phishing pages impersonating real companies, malware-infected downloads, fake investment schemes, fake sweepstakes, crypto scams, and ads loaded with trackers or malicious payloads. DuckDuckGo’s browser quietly checks visited pages against a locally stored list of known scam URLs, which refreshes every 20 minutes. If a page looks suspicious, you get a warning. You can choose to back out or proceed at your own risk.
What sets this system apart is that it works anonymously. DuckDuckGo isn’t logging your browsing activity, and it doesn’t upload your site visits to its servers. Even when rare threats require extra verification, your data isn’t shared. There’s no behavioral profiling, no fingerprinting, no creepy background tracking. It’s just protection — pure and simple.
If you want even more coverage, DuckDuckGo offers full-device Scam Blocker protection through its VPN, included with its Privacy Pro subscription. That means scam blocking continues even outside the browser, across apps and other browsers.
This update pushes DuckDuckGo further ahead as the privacy-first browser of choice for people who care about controlling their digital footprint. While Chrome and Safari hand threat detection to Google, DuckDuckGo proves it’s possible to stay safe online without compromising your privacy.
