Avoid being scammed by the Google Ad Grant scam
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is "Google Ad Grant Email Scam"?
The Google Ad Grants program offers non-profit organizations free access to Google business tools and free advertising on the Google Ads platform, however, some scammers spread an email claiming that recipients were approved for this program and encourage them to provide various details.
Note that Google has nothing to do with this scam (spam campaign) and, therefore, you should ignore it.
Scammers behind this rogue campaign spread an email claiming that whoever received it was approved by Google to participate in the aforementioned Google Ad Grants program.
In order for this approval to be processed, recipients are urged to send an email to info@ggrantsaid.com or ggrantsaid@gmail.com and provide details such as full name, address, nationality, country of residence, gender, age, marital status, occupation, e-mail address, mobile and fax number.
After contacting these scammers, recipients might be asked for other, more personal/sensitive information. This is a typical phishing scam whereby scammers use email messages to trick users into providing personal information. The scammers responsible for such scams often try to steal (extract) passwords, credit card details, Social Security numbers, etc.
The scammers who send these emails have nothing to do with the companies they imitate (in this case Google). Therefore, never trust this, or similar, emails.
| Name | Google Ad Grant Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud. |
| Fake Claim | Scammers behind this phishing scam claim that recipients were chosen to participate in the Google Ad Grants program. |
| Disguise | This email is disguised as message from Google. |
| Cyber Criminal Contact | info@ggrantsaid.com, ggrantsaid@gmail.com |
| Symptoms | Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the 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. |
Some examples of other spam campaigns are "RedCross Email Scam", "Microsoft Email Scam", and "Infect Your Family With CoronaVirus Email Scam". Generally, scammers behind them attempt to trick unsuspecting recipients into providing sensitive details or simply transferring money.
People who fall for these scams can lose money, become victims of identity theft, experience problems relating to online privacy, and experience other issues. Note that spam campaigns are also used to spread malware (e.g., ransomware, Trojans).
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Malware is distributed through spam campaigns by sending emails that contain malicious attachments and/or website links. Typically, cyber criminals attach malicious Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, executable files (.exe), archive files (ZIP, RAR), and JavaScript files, and hope that recipients open them.
Note that their emails are often disguised as important, official and legitimate. When opened, however, the attachments infect computers with high-risk malware. For example, if an attached malicious file is a MS Office document, it will demand permission to enable macro commands (editing/content).
If allowed, it installs malicious software. In any case, none of the malicious files can cause installation of malware if they remain unopened.
How to avoid installation of malware
Do not open irrelevant emails that include attachments or web links, especially if the emails are received from unknown, suspicious addresses. Software and files should never be downloaded through third party downloaders/installers, Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., torrent clients, eMule), from unofficial pages or other channels of this kind.
Software should be downloaded from official websites and direct links. Installed software must be updated and activated only with tools or implemented functions that are provided by official developers. Note that it is illegal to activate licensed software with unofficial, 'cracking' tools.
Scan the computer with up-to-date, reputable anti-spyware or anti-virus software regularly and remove detected threats immediately. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Appearance of the entire "Google Ad Grant" scam email:
Text presented in the "Google Ad Grant Email Scam" email message:
Google Inc
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Good day Sir/Madam,
Your Google Ad Grant has been approved.
Sincerely,
Sundar Pichai
CEO, Google Inc.
Powered By Google®2020
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway,
Mountain View, 94043 California
United States
OFFICIAL GOOGLE AD GRANTS
Google Ad Grant is a foundation program that awards grants to non-profit organizations and individuals every year, Google Ad Grants is only available by Google in over 50 countries worldwide, each yer we donate ONE HUNDRED MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS in Grants.
We wish to congratulate you as one of the lucky recipients in the ongoing GOOGLE AD GRANTS organized by GOOGLE AD GRANTS COMMITEE with a grant worth $1,241,395.00 (One Million Two Hundred and Forty One Thousand Nine Hundred Thirty Five United State Dollars.
HOW YOU WERE SELECTED FOR THE GRANT.
You were selected through our e-mail database saved from over 30 Million Active e-mails, which an online random selection was conducted.
For processing of your Grants, you are required to send the following information to The Processing Officer Jeffery Dean.
Jeffery Dean
Senior Fellow Google Inc.
E-mail: info@ggrantsaid.com
E-mail: ggrantsaid@gmail.com
Grants Payment Release Form
1. Your Full Name's and Address:
2. Your Nationality and country of residence:
3. Your Gender and Age (yy/mm/dd):
4. Marital Status and Occupation:
5. Private e-mail address:
6. Mobile and Fax Number:
7. How do intend to use these Grant?Note: Upon confirmation, your Grant will be transferred to you through our accredited affiliate Bank via the Bank to Bank Electronic Transfer to any bank of your choice that bears the same name as filled above.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep grants confidential as part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claims and its unwarranted abuse.
Yours sincerely,
Sundar Pichai CEO, Google Inc.
Powered By Google®2020
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Quick menu:
- What is Google Ad Grant 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.
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