Do not trust fake "Google Ads - Your Account Is Suspended" emails
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What kind of email is "Google Ads - Your account is suspended"?
"Google Ads - Your account is suspended" is a spam email campaign and a scam. Scammers send this email to many people hoping that some will take it seriously.
The main purpose of the scam is to trick people into providing their Google Ads account details (entering their usernames and passwords). If you receive this email, ignore it. Also ignore any other similar emails received.
"Google Ads - Your Account Is Suspended" email scam overview
Cyber criminals responsible for this scam present this email as a message from the Google Ads team. Scammers often pose as representatives (team members) of a well known company. The "Google Ads - Your account is suspended" email states that the user's Google Ads account has been suspended for circumventing systems.
To restore their accounts, recipients are encouraged to login by clicking a link provided. If clicked, it opens a fake login page: this can be identified by inspecting the opened website link, which is misspelled (accounts.vgeoogle[.]com). This website asks visitors to log into their Google Ads accounts by providing their email addresses (or telephone numbers) and passwords.
As mentioned, scammers use this method to steal accounts. Having your account stolen could result in a data leak, financial loss, and various other problems. We strongly recommend that you are vigilant with these emails - the best way to avoid any issues caused by such spam campaigns is to simply ignore them.
| Name | Google Ads - Your Account Is Suspended Email Scam. |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud. |
| Symptoms | Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of user's computer. |
| Distribution methods | Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains. |
| Damage | Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft. |
| Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
Spam campaigns in general
There are many other spam campaigns that are designed to steal personal details and to extort money from people. Some examples are "AMEX Email Scam", "Iforgot.apple.com", and "You Certainly Do Not Know Me".
Other types of emails are used by cyber criminals to spread computer infections such as LokiBot, TrickBot, Emotet, AZORult, Adwind, and other malicious programs. They send emails that contain attached files such as Microsoft Office documents, JavaScript files, PDF documents, archives such as ZIP, RAR, executable files, and so on.
Computers become infected when people open these files, which download and install malicious programs (cyber criminals use them to steal logins, passwords, data relating to browsing activity, banking details and other sensitive data).
In this way, they generate revenue. Regular users can thus experience financial loss, problems with privacy, data loss, browsing safety, and so on.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Attached files can do damage only if opened. For example, in the case of an archive file, its contents must be extracted and opened/executed.
In the case of an MS Office document, it will ask to enable macros commands. Enabling them allows a malicious document to download and install a high-risk computer infection. In summary, no attached file can do any harm (proliferate viruses) unless it is opened.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Do not open attachments/files or web links that are presented in emails received from unknown or suspicious addresses. Note that these emails are usually presented as legitimate and official, however, they are often irrelevant to the recipients. Additionally, all software should be downloaded from official websites, using direct links.
Do not use third party downloaders, Peer-to-Peer networks such as torrent clients, eMule, unofficial websites and other channels of this kind. Software updates should be downloaded and installed using tools or implemented functions that are provided by official software developers. Third party updaters can download and install computer infections.
This is also the case with software 'cracking' tools, which people often use to bypass paid software activation. Note, using these tools is a cyber crime. Another effective way to protect computers is to have reputable anti-virus or anti-spyware software installed and enabled at all times.
If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "Google Ads - Your account is suspended" email message:
Your Customer ID: 747-128-4244
Sign in
Google Ads
Your account is suspended
Your Google Ads account 747-128-4244 has been suspended for Circumventing systems.
If you believe this is an error, submit an appeal and weíll review your account.
Please log-in here to restore your account.
If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account, you can request a refund at any time.
The Google Ads Team
This email was sent to update you about your Google Ads account.
Google LLC
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway,
Mountain View, CA 94043
Deceptive website (accounts.vgeoogle[.]com) presented as official Google Ads login page:
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Quick menu:
- What is Google Ads - Your Account Is Suspended spam?
- Types of malicious emails.
- How to spot a malicious email?
- What to do if you fell for an email scam?
Types of malicious emails:
Phishing Emails
Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.
Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.
After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.
Emails with Malicious Attachments
Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.
In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.
If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.
While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.
Sextortion Emails
This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.
To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.
How to spot a malicious email?
While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:
- Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
- Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
- Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
- Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.
To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
Example of a spam email:
What to do if you fell for an email scam?
- If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
- If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
- If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
- If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
- Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why did I receive this email?
Spam emails are not personal. These letters are sent in massive operations – hence, thousands of users receive this mail.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?
If you have provided your account credentials – change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support without delay. And if you've disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the corresponding authorities.
I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?
No, opening/reading an email will not result in an infection. Devices are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened.
I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?
If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – your device was infected. However, documents (.xls, .doc, .one, .pdf, etc.) might need additional user interaction (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking on embedded content, etc.) to start downloading/installing malware.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?
Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating practically all known malware infections. It must be stressed that since sophisticated malicious programs usually hide deep within systems – running a complete system scan is paramount.
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