14 DAY TRIAL // Security researchers from Belgian email security company MX Lab warn of a new email phishing campaign that targets Google AdWords customers.
Fake emails intercepted by the company pose as official notifications from the Google AdWords service and bear a subject of "Account has stopped running this morning."
The contained message reads: "Your Google campaigns may have stopped running today (Monday, July 25, 2011). Dear AdWords Advertiser, for quality services and running your ads without any problems check your AdWords account regularly. Click here to check your AdWords account now."
The emails use a Google AdWords template that have been modified to include a rogue link. Clicking on it takes users to a fake login page.
This is not the first time when phishers target Google AdWords users. Similar campaigns, but with a slightly different message were spotted back in April and as far back as February 2010.
Users should always be wary of links in emails, even when they appear to originate from a trusted source. Spammers are regularly spoofing official communications from popular online services.
Google AdWords accounts are an appealing target for phishers because they control ads served through Google's advertising network and this can be abused in a couple of ways.
Cybercriminals can replace the ads with their own to promote rogue online pharmacies and other spam websites or to distribute malware and scareware. It is much easier to abuse existent accounts that already passed Google's scrutiny than to create new ones that get spotted and closed quickly.
Since Google AdWords are associated with Google Accounts, users who believe they have fallen victim to this scam should change their password immediately and enable the two-factor authentication feature. This will request a secret code sent to their mobile in addition to the password when attempting to log in from a new device.