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Fraudulent Adwords Ads!!

by Brian Potter
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have today just checked on my Google adwords account and it seems that someone has set up an Ad on my A/c without my knowledge and agreed to a ridiculous amount of daily spend and bid on a very high cost per click for airline tickets.

As usual I can find no way of contacting Google but the forum on Google reveals that other Adwords A/c holders have had this problem too!

I have as a last resort had to cancel my Adwords A/c with Google and contacted my card provider to give warning of a fraudulent charge on my card.

Has anyone else suffered the same misfortune and can anyone suggest how such a problem can be avoided in future?

I have had no recent communication from Google requesting confirmation of my A/c details, so no e-mail scams but how do the blighters pick up on A/c details, passwords etc..?

BP.
#ads #adwords #fraudulent
  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer99
    Originally Posted by Brian Potter View Post

    I have today just checked on my Google adwords account and it seems that someone has set up an Ad on my A/c without my knowledge and agreed to a ridiculous amount of daily spend and bid on a very high cost per click for airline tickets.

    As usual I can find no way of contacting Google but the forum on Google reveals that other Adwords A/c holders have had this problem too!

    I have as a last resort had to cancel my Adwords A/c with Google and contacted my card provider to give warning of a fraudulent charge on my card.

    Has anyone else suffered the same misfortune and can anyone suggest how such a problem can be avoided in future?

    I have had no recent communication from Google requesting confirmation of my A/c details, so no e-mail scams but how do the blighters pick up on A/c details, passwords etc..?

    BP.
    Hi Brian,

    Unless you gave out your login details, or accepted an 'Invite" to give account access, this should not be possible. The only way to do this would be to hack your login. Make sure to ALWAYS use a secure password (at least 8 characters and include both upper & lower case, at least one number, and at least one special character), and change it often.

    I recently had a VA that I had hired add herself to my account. She had my Google account password, as I had hired her to do some things with a few blogger blogs.

    She then changed the account login info so I was locked out.

    As soon as I discovered this - from an email Google sends when there is a change on the account - I logged into Adwords on another account and started a Live Chat.

    The guy I spoke with was helpful. They immediately froze the account and began an investigation. Still, I was lucky that no real damage was done.

    It was a "lesson learned" for me - use secure passwords, and change them frequently.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      hi Brian,

      You should also look at the possibility that a hacker or Trojan horse program has uploaded a keystroke logger on your PC. You can change your passwords all you want, but if you have a keystroke logger on your machine they will be sent each new password you create.

      I would also suspect any tool you have used that requires you to provide AdWords credentials.
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      • Profile picture of the author Brian Potter
        Thanks for your advice.

        I have discovered others having similar problems of late and they tell me Google is being sympathetic and in cases making credits to accounts.

        However, some rely on adwords earnings more than others and it could be serious for some if Google needs to close A/c's to make investigations.

        It is happening and Google know of it, wouldn't you have thought that by now they would have flagged up the problem to give adequate warnings. There will no doubt be others like me learning of it the hard way!

        Thanks again. BP.
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  • Profile picture of the author Solidsnake
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Brian Potter View Post

    I have today just checked on my Google adwords account and it seems that someone has set up an Ad on my A/c without my knowledge and agreed to a ridiculous amount of daily spend and bid on a very high cost per click for airline tickets.

    As usual I can find no way of contacting Google but the forum on Google reveals that other Adwords A/c holders have had this problem too!

    I have as a last resort had to cancel my Adwords A/c with Google and contacted my card provider to give warning of a fraudulent charge on my card.

    Has anyone else suffered the same misfortune and can anyone suggest how such a problem can be avoided in future?

    I have had no recent communication from Google requesting confirmation of my A/c details, so no e-mail scams but how do the blighters pick up on A/c details, passwords etc..?

    BP.
    I have no idea bout adwords but adsense-support@google.com responds within 2 to 3 days...
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