A friend told me her credit card bill had more than $10,000 in charges from Google AdWords.
What I’m guessing happened is:
- Someone got her credit card number somehow.
- Set up an AdWords account using her number and name.
- Created ad campaigns and offered to pay extremely high amounts of money for click throughs.
- Set up "dummy" pages with Google AdSense and content that would display their ads.
- Got to work getting those ads clicked numerous times.
It’s all theorizing but it seems like the only explanation why credit card thieves would do this – to reliably be able to profit from ads without a third-party advertiser crying click fraud.
Now, how do they expect to collect that money without Google busting them?
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Hi Susie,
Firstly congratulations on a well written and informative article, and on a sidenote thanks for linking to my site in the puddle jumping article (blog.zonelabs.com/).
I’d just like to confirm a few things. What seems to have happened here is, a person has stolen a creditcard and used it on Adwords. Adwords is for advertising your site(s) on and across google affiliates worldwide or by location. The fraudulent hacker/creditcard abuser has simply used the $10,000 credits in this persons account to “advertise at will”, no matter what the cost.
So in short, the fraudulent person in question has infact already benefitted from the visits generated by their advertisements on google network using adwords, and, without costing them anything. It’s worth taking note that these hits are worth the money that they are paying, or a proportionate amount of that money, to him, his friends who he’s advertising, or people that have paid him to advertise, $10,000 for the price of $3000 sort of thing, right.
So in short, google adwords was used well, and has proven itself (or other similar systems) an effective use for fraud, playing the system, and laundering money effectively and safely.
It is much more unlikely however, someone with the intelligence to demonstrate such an effective knowledge of laundering/money conversion/fraud/playing/hacking would be sloppy or even silly enough to setup dummy adsense pages. However, the profit could be comparable to the above such system.
It seems much like the attacker was very effective at converting his money in the first place, so I would find it a little less likely for it to have been re-converted into adsense revenue, but then again, we all get sloppy from time to time and make mistakes,
Another great Security Zone blog Article I’m going to have to write about on my blog!
Best Wishes,
Azio
Is this really true? Im thinking about it right now. Maybe, I am a victim of this.:(
I agree with Azio. This is a likely case scenario.
As a user of adwords for an 18-month period, I can feel the sting of such shenanigans.
–Jack Payne
http://www.sixhrs.com
Here 5 keys you must concern when choosing your credit card
The key area you’ll need to look at and compare is the APR (Annual Percentage Rate).
The APR is what you will pay on what you purchase when the incentive period runs out. APR rates will vary among credit cards, so it is always in your best interest to compare and shop around.
With a credit card, you’ll need to think about the payments.
You’ll need to decide if you want to pay the balance in full each month, or only the required amount
Another concern with choosing your credit card is the minimum payment amount. Most minimum payment balances will start around 3%, although some can be lower while others tend to be quite a bit higher.
Another important key to look at when choosing your credit card is the incentives.
There are several cards out there that will give you incentives, such as reward points and even cash back. There are several incentives out there with credit cards, all you have to do is look around and compare.
The interest free period is a concern as well, as you will obviously want to choose the longest period that you can keep the payments down.
When you make that final decision and choose your credit card, you should always make sure that you know exactly what you are getting. Credit cards are great to have, although they can lead to a downfall if you don’t choose them carefully. If you put some time and research into choosing your credit card, you’ll find the best one for you. As long as you take care of your credit card and pay the bill on time, you’ll help raise your credit and eventually be able to purchase even bigger things – such as a car or even a house.
The first thing you’ll need to decide when choosing your credit card, is why you need one in the first place. Some people choose to get a credit card for cash flow purposes. With a credit card, you can make purchases and buy things, leaving your paycheck or other source of income in your bank account to draw interest.
http://equityloansecrets.com/credit-card.php