Online fraudsters are targeting Google AdWords users in an attempt to steal internet traffic and gain access to the banking details of businesses and individuals.According to the latest research from bigmouthmedia, the volume of 'phishing' emails designed to trick customers into handing over their AdWords account login details has increased rapidly within the last six months. Analysis of traffic statistics for April reveals a rise of 240% on the monthly average for 2007.
Although web users are familiar with fraudulent emails seeking usernames and passwords for online banking facilities, Google Phishing is a relatively new phenomenon. Victims are targeted not only for the details that would leave them open to identity theft, but will also find their AdWords traffic redirected to the perpetrators' site.
Many commentators see the sudden spike as a reflection of Google's rising significance, with organised online crime now targeting the search giant in much the same manner as it would attack a major bank.
Bigmouthmedia conducted the research by analysing the company's email traffic over an 18 month period. After measuring the flood of automatic phishing attempts sent to email aliases across the organization in 2007, calculating the monthly average and comparing those results to statistics from 2008, the almost three-fold leap in attacks was identified.
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