We have reported time and time again about Google AdWords accounts being hacked into and abused. Typically, the hackers gain access, set up a new campaign, generate tons of ads, pointing to temporary domains and use your credit card to pay for that traffic. But I have never really noticed the ads in the raw search results for such hacked campaigns. Until now, that is.

A DigitalPoint Forums thread lead me to a search for earth4energy in Google. The search ads returned, in some cases, returned as many as 7 of the 8 search ads that lead, to what looks like, spammer sites. The ads were probably generated via a hacked AdWords account and they used .CN TLDs to set up temporary landing pages.

Here is a picture of two of those ads that I personally can see right now:

All the domains listed for this search result seem to have the same owner:

Domain Name: asweg.com.cn
ROID: 20080813s10011s06156148-cn
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registrant Organization: 陈
Registrant Name: 陈诚
Administrative Email: yjc20047@hotmail.com
Sponsoring Registrar: 易名中国
Name Server:ns1.hostmonster.com
Name Server:ns2.hostmonster.com
Registration Date: 2008-08-13 17:40

For our past coverage of AdWords account hacks, see below:

• When Will Google AdWords Prevent Account Hijackings?
• Increase in Google AdWords Accounts Being Hacked Into?
• Google AdWords Account Hacked: False Ads & False Charges
• Alert: More Google AdWords Phishing Attempts
• Beware of Google AdWords Phishing Email
• Google AdWords Phishing Attempt Via Google Legal Subpoena

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

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