How about spending $200,000 daily on Google adwords? - WebmasterForums.NET

barney · 07-31-2006, 02:45 PM

Today, when you login into your Google adwords account, you may
discover you owe to Google thousands and thousands of dollars for an
ad campaign that you never created. How? Keep reading…
On lazy Saturday morning, January 03, 2004, just before leaving home
for a trip I have got an idea to check quickly how my Goggle adwords
campaign is running. I was sure I would take a quick look, and in a
minute would leave. In a minute I was sitting in front of my PC with
my hands trembling – my humble low-budget campaign was deleted, and a
new one has been created: the one with cost-per-click of $50.00 and
daily budget of $200,000.00. As Google merrily promises, I already
"started seeing the results".
Lucky me, this new campaign seemed to be started only few hours ago –
so, my balance was not a catastrophe yet. You can imagine what it
would be on Monday morning…
It took me few moments to delete this new campaign; it took longer to
change my password, and to think about (and check) what else could be
hacked: my credit card account, my bank account etc.
Of course, I complained to Google immediately. In four days I have got
a first reply:

In reviewing your account this evening, I do not see that anyone other
than someone with access to your email address made changes to your
account. I also see that the campaign with the high daily budget has
now been deleted and therefore, not running. Is there someone in your
company that has access to your email address and login details to
your AdWords account that could have logged in and created the
campaign you are referring to?

So, it was I who was crazy, and it was I who wanted to spend $200K
daily for advertising. Next day they told it to me more directly:

The only way someone can access your account is if they have your
login and password. In reviewing the account history, I do see that
you have accessed the account from different IP addresses and that
when the 2nd campaign was created, the IP address is the same as one
you have used when working on Campaign 1.

And later:

In reviewing your account history, I found that there were no
suspicious activities in that the same IP address was used to create
and make changes in both of your campaigns. Further, there is no way
for anyone to access your account unless they have the login and
password. We do not see complaints of this kind with the exception of
companies where multiple employees that have the login information. We
do not believe that there was a breach in security.

That is, "man, stop bugging us; if you wish to spend $200K daily, it
is your problem. Just put the money here and enjoy the results".

Now, let me ask you few questions, questions that I asked Goggle
adwords support and got no answer:
- When you start a new campaign, do you receive any notification, or
thank you letter from Google? I never did. If I received such an
email, I would be alerted immediately, otherwise it was only my good
luck. By Monday morning I could have spent thousands and thousands…
- Do you receive a monthly statement with your credit card charges
from Google? I never did. eBay sends it, PayPal sends it. Everybody
send it, save Google.
- What does this "start seeing the results in 15 minutes" motto have
to do with the fraud protection? If someone has stolen your password,
what does Google do to protect you? Nothing??

I am not talking about how effective or ineffective Google adwords is.
How SAFE is it?? When was the last time you checked your adwords
account? A week ago? Keep going. One day the results could surprise
you…

barney · 07-31-2006, 02:45 PM

Google should have just said they've diagnosed you (after hacking your
medical records) as schitzo, so you must have changed it while you were
experiencing one of your other personalities.
Overture emails you each time they take money from your account and you
can set these auto withdrawals at any level. I've "accidentally" let some
experimental high cost search terms stay on too long but when I got 2
Overture withdrawals in 1 day it reminded me real quick to take my foot
off the gas pedal. I just went into my Google AdWords and I know with us
they take money directly from our account once per month - I don't know if
there's any other option(s). I'm the only "key" person in my business and
these auto-withdrawals have the danger of draining a bank account should
I be hospitalized or dead - I've given my wife instructions and passwords
should she ever need them.

I've digressed, but Google should take the possibilty that your account
was hacked by a complete stranger very very seriously. The day before
every huge robbery in history, whether physical or computer, the head
of security would have told you their system was "foolproof" - fortunately
for some wealthy criminals, they're not fools!

barney · 07-31-2006, 02:46 PM

I had a different experience with adwords scheme. Google kept jacking
us for additional payments and deleting the words that we wanted to
use. Then they recommended people that could be hired to "fix"
things. It was like a Russian mafia shakedown. You have to pay these
"advisors" in advance, or else you are history. Scared us to death!
After complaining, the result is that Google deleted all references to
our company, and we don't show in our normal trade searches any more.
An excellent opportunity to shovel more buckets of money at their
so-called "advisors"! True to their word, we are history now, and our
enterprise is no longer visible on Google.

Darioush · 08-05-2006, 05:53 PM

I never set a daily limit above $50 for my adwords budget, and i have never had any billing issue. Beware though, i know of people who had problems with Google Adwords billing department. Overture used to be the worst company, they didnt let you access your account during a week, but charged your credit cards for tons of unwanted clicks. Hopefully this changed.

briang · 08-23-2006, 04:14 PM

It's quite simple really, just like in the movie fight club, you must have a multiple personality disorder.

montyauto · 02-09-2007, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darioush

I never set a daily limit above $50 for my adwords budget, and i have never had any billing issue. Beware though, i know of people who had problems with Google Adwords billing department. Overture used to be the worst company, they didnt let you access your account during a week, but charged your credit cards for tons of unwanted clicks. Hopefully this changed.

I would say so, we have to make sure we are on save way what ever we are doing..

john239 · 06-14-2007, 04:31 AM

That must have been a little bit of pain, knowing that you owed money for something that you didn't do. That's one reason why you should keep all your usernames and passwords save. Another thing that I notice some people do is to use the same username and passwords for different programs. Even doing that is not keeping them save as the owner of one program can easily go to another program that you have and login for you.