Some people really never give up do they?

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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A couple of minutes ago I received an email Titled “Important notice – please cooperate.” The email appeared to be sent from Google, as the name in the FROM field read “Google Adwords <AdWords@google.com>”

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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Nigeria’s already damaged online reputation was further tarnished today, with news coming in that a Nigerian undergraduate has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for obtaining $47,000 (33,382 pounds) from an Australian woman by convincing her over the Internet that he was 57 years old, white, and madly in love with her.

According to media reports, Lawal Adekunle Nurudeen, a final year student of the Department of Survey and Geo-Informatics Engineering, at the University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for obtaining $27,900.91 from an Australian woman named Pee Loo Rosalind Summer.

Apparently, the two had met in 2007, where Nurudeen had introduced himself as Engineer Benson Lawson, a British widower working with a multi-national company in Nigeria, whose wife and children died in “a ghastly motor accident”.

“The victim, a 56-year-old woman from Australia, told the convict that she wanted a husband and all the men she had met always disappointed her,” a statement he quickly capitalized on, convincing her that he was her “Mr Right”, and sending her a picture of a white man to further the ploy.

Reports from the Times of Nigeria have it that he was arraigned before a high court in Ikeja, Lagos- where he was handed the sentence. In addition to the 15 year sentence, he is also to pay $250 monthly to the victim, until “the total amount is liquidated.”

As expected, the story has made headlines across the globe, the result- a further dent in Nigeria’s online reputation. The story in itself really is saddening, considering that there are many other legal ways to make a living online.

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