Credit Card Scam Targets Google Adwords Advertisers
If you get an email from Google, be very careful – do not click on the link!!! The subject line of the email reads: “Please Update Your Billing Information” and it looks like it came directly from Google. The actual text from the mail looks like this:
“Dear Advertiser,
Our attempt to charge your credit card for your outstanding Google AdWords account balance was declined. Your account is still open. However, your ads have been suspended. Once we are able to charge your card and receive payment for your account balance, we will re-activate your ads.
Please update your billing information, even if you plan to use the same credit card. This will trigger our billing system to try charging your card again. You do not need to contact us to reactivate your
account. To update your primary payment information, please follow these steps:
1. Log in to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select.
2. Enter your primary payment information.
3. Click ‘Update’ when you have finished.
———————————————————————————-
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does
not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message. If you
have any questions, please visit the Google AdWords Help Centre
——————————————————————————
Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords. We look forward toproviding you with the most effective advertising available.”
The message fooled me until I went into my client’s adwords account and found that their ads were running fine. These general email accounts receiving the bogus message have no association with the adwords account as I am the administrator, which is what triggered my investigation. Evidently, the scam artist targeted people with ads on Google and sent this to a combination of website email addresses. The Internet provides a lot of great cutting edge technology but it can also be a dangerous place as well. When in doubt, check it out.
If you have any questions regarding this post please contact Keith Humes CEO of Rosemont Media.