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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