wafflesatnoon.com » Scams & Deception » Email Alert: Google AdWords Top Accounts Phishing Scam
Email Alert: Google AdWords Top Accounts Phishing Scam
If you received an email regarding your Google AdWords account, stating that your account has been integreted in AdWords Top Accounts, be careful because this is a phishing scam.
The email we spotted today contained the following:
The subject read, “Google AdWords Top Accounts” and the return address was auto-notify@adwords.google.com. The body of the email read:
Your Google AdWords Campaign has successfully been integrated in AdWords Top Accounts. You can now reach your customers with targeted, relevant advertising through this new method as described below.
If you want to take advange of this incredible new Campaign Tool, activate it here: https://www.google.com/adwords/topaccounts/en-US/
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team
————————
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 after following the steps above, please visit the Google AdWords Help Center at http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=en_US to find answers to frequently asked questions and a ‘contact us’ link near the bottom of the page.
Besides one small spelling error (“advantage”), the email looked relatively legit, complete with Google’s logo. But if we take a look at the message source, it becomes clear that this is not from Google at all. The links, despite the fact that they display a Google url, actually point to the domain http://bremer-szene.de which certainly isn’t where you’d expect to end up from a Google AdWords notification. Further, the addresses they display in the email will yield you “not found” errors on Google’s servers.
Apparently this has been going around for at least a couple of years, as this blogger pointed out back in 2010.
It just goes to show you that you can never be too careful. Always look closely at any links in the emails you receive, even if it seems legit at first glance.
Further Reading:
Filed under: Scams & Deception
I’ve just received one of these and the first I’ve seen or even heard of. Despite being pretty obvious is was a phishing email, I appreciate you taking the time to post this article warning others.