Today Google Adsense users are being completely fooled into clicking on an advertisement that appears to be completely legitimate. I was even hoodwinked by this one because the email appears to be signed by Google! As soon as you click the email you’re dumped into a version of your account in another language. By the time you figure out how to change things back you are tricked into giving out your password (you think you’re changing the password on your google account). I have been extremely diligent about security, email screening, and avoiding spam and scams. I was fooled this time and I’m admitting that because I can see the entire Adsense community having their accounts quickly compromised and cleaned out. Now that these jerks have my password they are most likely attempting to use it on numerous other accounts tied to my email. Lucky for me I use a unique 20+ character password for every account I utilize online so they will never gain access to my data. I am posting this quickly and without proofreading because I do not want others to have the heart attack I almost had when I realized what was happening. I run my entire life through my Google account and if it was compromised, all of my online businesses would also be compromised.
That’s my heart stopper for the day… now I don’t need that second cup of coffee at least…… whew!
To solve this problem in the future I set up “2 step verification” within Gmail. It’s a way to integrate your Google account with your mobile phone and a free app from Google. You create a specific verification keycode that is sent to your phone. That way if anyone else tries to access your account they will not be able to gain access. You can also setup a backup phone to text if yours is lost or stolen!
I HIGHLY recommend setting this up- mostly for peace of mind!
anyone’s heart will stop if his one of the main source of income ends.