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A WebmasterWorld thread had some Google AdWords advertisers being very suspicious over a recent email they received from Google.
The email was about verifying your billing email account and some other information. To me and many others that is a clear sign of one of the many AdWords phishing attempts we have seen over the years.
But Google told us in a Google AdWords Help thread that this email is actually legit and from Google.
Google's Bindu said:
Google recently notified invoicing customers about an upcoming change in our system. In this email, customers were informed that Google is currently verifying email addresses listed as billing contacts. If you received this email and you are not the correct contact person, you should reply to this email with the correct email address. We can assure you that this email was sent by Google and is not a phishing or spam email.If you have a similar issue, please report it in the referenced link below my signature.
The link takes you to the AdWords known issue page.
So in any event, it is good that Google verified the email. It is just too bad for them that most people felt it was spam.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google AdWords Help.
Comments:
Vernoti
03/17/2011 04:10 pm
I got this email and thought it was another phishing attempt. Deleted it.... These emails might have gone over better if they came from our "actual" account reps instead of a mass emailing.
Justin Helmig
03/21/2012 05:48 pm
I certainly feel sorry for Google, Paypal, and the other companies whose customer base has been targeted for phishing scams. That being said, something Google, or anyone else for that matter, could have done to make the message a little less spammy sounding is to verify their customer email list through an email verification service like StrikeIron's Email Verification (http://strikeiron.com/Products/EmailVerification.aspx). After running through a service like StrikeIron this, you can assume the email is valid then modify the copy of the message to reflect that 'we know this is a valid email but perhaps you are not the right recipient anymore?'