News sources have it that a number of people have been called by scammers pretending to be from the computer software giant Microsoft or an internet service provider, some of whom have had their bank accounts emptied as a result of the con.

The ruse works by making people think that their computer has a virus. The “problem” is then fixed by a series of steps which ends with the scammers being allowed remote access to the computer.

To add insult to injury, people are also asked to provide their credit card details in order to pay a fee for the repair.

Jaclyn Clarabut, assistant editor of Which? Computing, said the magazine had received about 10 calls from around the country but it was aware that trading standards officers were also receiving some.

She thought there were only a handful of cases where people were defrauded.

“We wanted to draw attention to this before the situation gets any worse,” she said.

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Okay. I’m all for perseverance, but this is just plain ludicrous. Thinking about it now perhaps the title of this post should rather have been Google Adwords SCAM Part II- because that is exactly what this feels like- A SCAM sequel

If you’re still wondering what exactly it is I’m “jabbering” about, I take it you never read the previous Google Adwords SCAM article.

Well, guess what! I just received another Google Adwords SCAM mail (as I’m sure most of you guys probably have). This time the title of the scam email was;
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“Your AdWords Professional Account has stopped running today!”
(Click on Image below to view E-mail)

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Once can only imagine how many people fall for these scams and even worse the number of people who have lost money to these fraudsters.

HAVE YOU FALLEN PREY TO SIMILAR SCAMS IN THE PAST?

Your story just might help others. Feel free to share with the world by leaving a comment below.

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For some strange reason though, Thunderbird- my default email client, warned that the message might be a SCAM .

Needless to say that I was completely shocked, because I have never known Google to send SCAM messages. As a matter of fact Google, just like many other leading web companies, frowns on SCAM.

But you see, I have come to develop a lot of confidence in Thunderbird, ever since it saved me from making a terrible mistake some years ago.

Now, the body of the message read;

We detected irregular activity on your Google AdWords Account.

Please use the link below to verify your account immediately:

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=adwords

Sincerley, Google AdWords

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At this point, I was totally confused.  This was the first time I had ever received anything like this from Google. I then decided to investigate the matter, albeit cautiously, so I proceeded to click on the link..

What happened next left me completely and utterly stupefied- clicking on the link took me to the following  URL, and what I saw there shocked the life out of me.

http://www.google-lg.com/accounts/?ServiceLogin?service=adwords&cd=null&hl=EN&ltmpl=adwords&passive=false&ifr=false&alwf=true
&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fadwords.google.com%2Fselect%2Fgaiaauth%3Fapt%
3DNone%26ugl%3Dtrue

The landing page for that URL was so similar to the actual Google page, that it was almost impossible to notice any  discrepancy at first.

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At this point, as you can imagine, I didn’t know what to think anymore.

Had it not been for the fact that trusty old Thunderbird warned me about the impending doom, I just might have fallen for this SCAM hook, line and sinker.

A closer look at the URL in the address bar revealed all I needed to know about this fraudulent move. Let’s do a very simple comparison;

First of all, the original Google Adwords login URL;

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Next, the pseudo Google Adwords URL;

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1. The first thing you’ll notice is that the domain name “google-lg.com” as seen above is completely different from the “google.com” domain we have all come to be so acquainted with
2. Secondly, the original Google Adwords login page at http://adwords.google.com/ is built over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)- basically a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with the SSL/TLS protocol to provide encryption over a secure login interface

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In a bid to try to determine the source of this SCAM, and be absolutely certain of my assertions; I  went on to do a whois lookup on the pseudo domain. The results only went to allay my fears;

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Surprise (not so) Surprise! The domain name was actually created this morning

Have you fallen for a similar scam in the past, or maybe you received the same email I did. Share your thoughts below.

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