Over these past few weeks, spam emails seemed to have increased significantly. Probably because the lame fraudsters are not making enough money or maybe they are suffering from lack of attention lately. Perhaps, but these good for nothing fraudsters never run out of cheap tricks. And just recently, those Bolan****s from China had unleashed another Phishing scam through spam mails. Their target.. Adwords advertisers. And while we admire the Chinese for their ingenuity in handling businesses, we can't neglect the fact that some of them are losers, who can't do anything good except for making the Chinese reputation on the web look bad.
The spam email contents look like they are coming from the Google Adwords program. Although they include typos, many small business owners advertising on Google Adwords wonder if this phishing emails are real.
Using Uronlinebiz's screenshots, here are the four different ways how scammers target their victims..
Click on picture to enlarge
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From: adwords-noreply@google.com
Subject: Your AdWords Google Account is stoped
Date: March 25, 2008 8:06:15 AM EDT
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
Dear Google AdWords Customer,
Please sign in to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login , and update your billing information. [This link actually goes to a scam site in China.]
Your account will be reactivated as soon as you update your payment information. [Wrong, your account will get stolen, that's what they mean.]
Your ads will show immediately if you decide to pay for clicks via credit or debit card. If you decide to pay by direct debit, we may need to receive your signed debit authorization before your ads start running, depending on your location. [Note that you are paying scammers, not Google.]
If you choose bank transfer, your ads will show as soon as we receive your first payment. [B.S.]
We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available. [Crap!]
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team [The Bolan**** team pretending to be Google.]
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From: reactivation@google.com
Subject: The Google AdWords Team request you to update your billing information [..so we could steal your account.]
Date: March 28, 2008 5:03:21 PM EDT
Dear Google AdWords Customer,
Your ads have stopped running because we were unable to process your billing information. We will reactivate you account after you update your billing information. In order to reactivate your account, please sign it to your account at http://adwordsgoogle.com/select/login [Chinese Scam Site], and update your billing information. Once your account is reactivated and your billing information has been processed, any your ads and campaigns can begin running immediately on Google. [This link also goes to a scam site in China.]
You will not be asked to submit your billing information every time you create a new ad or campaign. If your payment has been declined and you'd like to resubmit the same credit card information, you may also do so by clicking the Retry card button on your Billing Preferences page. After updating your credit card information (regardless of whether or not you use a different card), it can take up to 24 hours before your ads start running again. You also have the option of providing a backup credit card to help ensure that your ads run continuously in the case that your primary payment method fails. [Sounds like a Google agent wannabe.]
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team [The Scam Team pretending to be Google.]
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From: reactivation@google.com
Subject: Our programme terms have changed.
Date: April 4, 2008 2:57:16 PM EDT
Dear AdWords Customer,
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the Google AdWords programme for advertisers and users, we have updated our Terms and Conditions.
Please review the new Terms and Conditions below, then indicate your acceptance.
Yes, I accept the Terms and Conditions. [This includes a link to another phishing website.]
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
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How to avoid the Scam?
If you have a question about any emails like these, we suggest that you do not click on the link contained in these spam mails. Instead, log into your account the way you normally do. If there is really a problem with your billing or other information, you'll see it when you log into your account. Better yet, contact Google's support team and ask for confirmation, and never hesitate to report these fraudulent emails to Google.
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