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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: [email protected] 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.
