9xb - Creating Online Success

PHISHING EMAILS GOING ROUND

When the first client rang up asking if their Adwords account had been stopped, we forwarded the email onto Google asking if they knew anything. When another client rang a week later, we knew for sure there was some 'phishing' going on.

It Just Looks Wrong

The subject line of the email: Your Adwords Google Account is stoped looks a bit weird in the first place. This may be a little optimistic, but we don't expect emails from Google to contain typos! The rest of the email looks genuine enough, it even contains a link to adwords.google.com.

Unfortunately, this link takes you to an adwrods.google domain. God knows what was here; thankfully google have got wise to it and it's been taken off the web.

We were able to reassure our clients that their accounts are fine, but it did cause a lot of confusion. Some people will have clicked on that link and maybe even given their billing information again, which of course is just what the spammers want.

I'd like to know where they got all the adwords-associated emails from. Answers on a postcard please!

Today's Moral

If you receive a suspicious email, always check that what it's telling you is true. Especially when it comes to your financial information, it's better to be safe than sorry!

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