Jonathan's Web Marketing Blog

 

3.26.2008

Google Adwords Email Scam

You should be aware of this phishing email scam going around and that others like them are quite common. Its sole purpose is to gather personal financial information from unsuspecting Google Adwords clients for credit card fraud.

Here's the email:
Dear Google AdWords Customer!

In order to update your billing information, please sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com, and update your billing information. Your account will be reactivated as soon as you have entered your payment details. Your ads will show immediately if you decide to pay for clicks via credit or debit card. If you decide to pay by direct debit, we may need to receive your signed debit authorization before your ads start running, depending on your location. If you choose bank transfer, your ads will show as soon as we receive your first payment. (Payment options vary by location.)

Thank you for choosing AdWords. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

------------------------

This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message. If you have any questions after following the steps above, please visit the Google AdWords Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=8336&hl=en_US to find answers to frequently asked questions and a 'contact us' link near the bottom of the page.

------------------------

It even appears to come from: Google Adwords-noreply [mailto:adwords-noreply@google.com].

I know it's a scam because the link in the email doesn't go where it says that it's going.

The visible link is:

http://adwords.google.com

It actually goes to:

http://adwords.google.com.ork0r.cn/select/Login/

The site is currently down, and my Mozilla Firefox browser warned me that this site was a known source of "web forgery" so the scam has been shut down already.

It's no mistake that Google was indirectly the target of the attack in this scheme. Because of Google's continued success and wide-reaching popularity, Google has been the target of many recent attacks.

As a Google user/client, you should expect that Google will never ask for this kind of information in an email. You should also pay attention to where links in a email take you. If the address shown in your address bar is different than what you clicked on, then you probably don't want to stick around on that website, and certainly don't want to share any private data.

posted by Jonathan Fashbaugh 0 comments Email Me

3.08.2008

Who is "Page 1 Solutions"?

Looking at my blog's usage statistics, the vast majority of people who arrive at my blog have typed in "Page 1 Solutions" on Google. People want to know who Page 1 Solutions is. Who are we, what do we do, what makes us different. People also type in "Page One Solutions" (our name is technically spelled with the numeral 1 instead of spelled out, but whatever), and others use "Page Solutions", forgetting the 1 altogether. The best way to learn about us is to visit our main website, www.Page1Solutions.com.

Do you check out your website traffic statistics on a regular basis? If not, you're missing a golden opportunity. It takes time to pick apart your statistics and try to gleen some ideas for improving your website and its marketing. Your web marketing company should do that for you, but it's worth checking out on your own too. Look for trends, both positive and negative. Find out what's important to your users, and be sure that your website does a good job at addressing those issues.

If you don't check out your website usage statistics, you're leaving too much to chance. You can only benefit by holding your SEO company accountable for producing results.

posted by Jonathan Fashbaugh 0 comments Email Me

Lawyer Education Seminar - AAJ in Santa Fe 2008

This week, I'm in Santa Fe at an education seminar for attorneys. This seminar is focused on damages. I've met with several attorneys who have had websites for several years, but haven't seen a return on their investment because their websites aren't showing up on the 1st page of the search engines. I told them about our SEO for lawyers and how we can help.

posted by Jonathan Fashbaugh 0 comments Email Me

Email me with your question.