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6:38 pm
December 3, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
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For those who didn't read my other post, something seemed amiss with my adsense as my earnings each day was 0 for a few days, and my page impression count was a whopping 4. (When it had been 700-900).
After much investigation, I found out that someone must have hacked the Adsense account number in my blog somehow. My pub-ID showing in Adsense was much different than the one that what was showing up in my page source (and my widgets and such). So, I had to go into my widgets and theme editor and re-change all my adsense pub-IDs to the proper one.
So, the lesson is, if your adsense ever seems off, go through and check the pub-ID! Thanks for all the replies everyone!
I wonder who I would contact to report this? I have the pub-id it was changed too…
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6:04 am
December 4, 2010
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Glen Craig
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Wow! That is interesting indeed. I'll definitely keep this in mind.
If you know the Pub ID then I would reach out to the big G. Might as well ask them about it and get the ID on their radar.
Not that I know enough about file permissions but perhaps someone was able to get into your files?
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7:38 am
December 4, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
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Craig – Free From Broke said:
Wow! That is interesting indeed. I'll definitely keep this in mind.
If you know the Pub ID then I would reach out to the big G. Might as well ask them about it and get the ID on their radar.
Not that I know enough about file permissions but perhaps someone was able to get into your files?
I wish I knew how to contact Google. I have no idea how to report this problem. I have dug around someone and I can't find a contact. Whoever did it also went a little click happy too because they clicked plenty of ads on the days it wasn't tied to my pubid. I am sure I will be booted for illegal activity somehow and I will have to try and prove myself.
I did have a notice that a user (that is really not a user on my admin file) requested a password change. I then went and changed all my security, but maybe they got in before that? I have also read that plugins can possibly hack into your files. I did a bunch of maintenance on my site a few days ago, so maybe I downloaded something? Who knows. I uninstalled all those plugins.
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8:07 am
December 4, 2010
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Invest It Wisely
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everydaytips said:
Craig – Free From Broke said:
Wow! That is interesting indeed. I'll definitely keep this in mind.
If you know the Pub ID then I would reach out to the big G. Might as well ask them about it and get the ID on their radar.
Not that I know enough about file permissions but perhaps someone was able to get into your files?
I wish I knew how to contact Google. I have no idea how to report this problem. I have dug around someone and I can't find a contact. Whoever did it also went a little click happy too because they clicked plenty of ads on the days it wasn't tied to my pubid. I am sure I will be booted for illegal activity somehow and I will have to try and prove myself.
I did have a notice that a user (that is really not a user on my admin file) requested a password change. I then went and changed all my security, but maybe they got in before that? I have also read that plugins can possibly hack into your files. I did a bunch of maintenance on my site a few days ago, so maybe I downloaded something? Who knows. I uninstalled all those plugins.
Hi Kris,
Use this to contact Google: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact=violation_report
And please, please, please, contact your hosting company (who is it? Host Gator? Dream Host? Blue Host? etc…) and tell them everything that has happened so that they can properly look into it from their end.
Hope you get re-secured… that was downright dirty of whoever swapped out your adsense code with theirs.
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8:08 am
December 4, 2010
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Invest It Wisely
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Post edited 8:09 am – December 4, 2010 by Invest It Wisely
Nevermind, use this one: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=unauthorized_code
Sorry for the incorrect link before; I think THAT one is the one you need. ;)
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8:10 am
December 4, 2010
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Invest It Wisely
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LOL, sorry for the spam. Here is the correct form: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=unauthorized_code
If you find that unauthorized ad code has been placed on your site, we first recommend that you take the following steps:
- Contact your web host or webmaster to inquire about the ads.
- Contact your service provider and check your web logs to see if anyone has accessed your HTML source without your permission.
If you confirm that the AdSense ad code has been placed on your site
without permission, please fill out the form below. We will perform an
investigation using the information that you've provided. Once you've
submitted the form and received a confirmation email, you're welcome to
remove the unauthorized ad code from your site.
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8:11 am
December 4, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
| Member | posts 455 |
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Thanks for the info Kevin. I will definitely let them know, along with inmotion hosting!!
So, if you ever notice your impressions are low on Adsense, make sure you check the pub-id on your adsense ads.
I really appreciate all the feedback people have provided. The Yakezie is great!
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8:15 am
December 4, 2010
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Invest It Wisely
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Hi Kris,
Please also run a malware scan on your PC: http://www.malwarebytes.org/ is one tool you can use.
If they're grabbing the passwords from some trojan then changing it won't help. Also run an anti-virus scan if you don't have.
Finally, if you still use IE chuck it in the recycle bin, because it is full of security holes. Firefox and Chrome are better, here.
I've been hacked once and I had someone impersonate me and basically ruin my username, so I feel somewhat strongly about this stuff.
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8:16 am
December 4, 2010
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Invest It Wisely
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MSN/Windows Live is also another avenue for security holes… I know a lot of people who have been infected via that route as well. There are alternatives like Trillian, Pidgin, etc… that are not as nice but are less vulnerable as well.
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11:19 am
December 4, 2010
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Aloysa
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Good Lord! This is soooo scary. Now I am paranoid. Does it mean that whoever hacked into the account could get access to the bank info also?
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1:30 pm
December 4, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
| Member | posts 455 |
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I did run the full malware scan and nothing was found. I contacted adsense using their little form. I talked to support at inmotion hosting and they said that nobody appears to have accesssed my site, but that wordpress gets 'compromised' all the time. Sweet!
Anyway, hopefully this is the end of my issues. Thanks so much everyone.
Kris
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5:05 am
December 5, 2010
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Forest Parks
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Yikes that is scary, glad you got it fixed!!! My adsense was showing far too many impressions last week but it must have been a Google bug as it fixed in a few days.
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6:27 am
December 5, 2010
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moneycone
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Kris, I posted this in your blog, but I think this might be useful to others here as well…
Did you recently upgrade your WP plugins? Adsense related plugins come with the authors pub id by default. What might've happened is (if you did upgrade), the adsense plugins overwrote your pub-id with the plugin authors' id. Might just be a bug or something the author overlooked.
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8:07 am
December 5, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
| Member | posts 455 |
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moneycone said:
Kris, I posted this in your blog, but I think this might be useful to others here as well…
Did you recently upgrade your WP plugins? Adsense related plugins come with the authors pub id by default. What might've happened is (if you did upgrade), the adsense plugins overwrote your pub-id with the plugin authors' id. Might just be a bug or something the author overlooked.
I did add an RSS plugin, and updated a couple others, but not my one adsense plug in. That is an interesting thought though. Hmmm…
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8:25 am
December 6, 2010
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MaximizingMoney
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Hello,
This may be related.
The most recent WordPress upgrade solves a security issue:
This maintenance release fixes a moderate security issue that could allow a malicious Author-level user to gain further access to the site, addresses a handful of bugs, and provides some additional security updates.
So if you suspect a user did this, and you haven't updated to 3.0.2. (if you use wordpress), then that's probably the case, they probably gained access through the security breach before the update was released.
Hope this helps. Max
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12:30 pm
December 6, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
| Member | posts 455 |
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Thanks Max. I did update to the newest version over the weekend, so hopefully that will help. Google did email me back saying a bunch of nothing. They will look into it, but won't tell me anything they find out. That is ok, I just wanted them to know in case there was any 'inappropriate activity' on the adsense ads while it wasn't truly under my account.
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5:53 pm
December 7, 2010
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Eric – PersonalProfitability.com
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I do all of my AdSense with the code directly. Plugins could give someone else access if the plug-in programmer has bad intentions. Also, make sure to have good security on your site. The plug in WP Security Scan could help you check your installation for holes.
Also, check your server file permissions. That is the most likely way to get hacked with WP.
Aloysa, you can't get someone's bank info by just having their publisher ID.
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10:14 am
December 18, 2010
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Sunil from The Extra Money Blog
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WOW – I DID NOT KNOW THIS COULD HAPPEN!!!!
now that you mention, one of my niche sites was making a consistent $900/mo from adsense, which has dropped to $700. a 200 drop, though significant in percentage terms, i guess didn't raise the flag high enough for me. i let it go and it has been a few months now and it is still in the 700 range. i will definitely look into this.
thank you so much for bringing this up! any idea how it could have been and what can be done to prevent it?
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The Extra Money Blog– Expedited Wealth Building Through Multiple Streams of Active & Passive Income (Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Personal Finance)
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10:28 am
December 18, 2010
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everydaytips
| | Detroit Area | |
| Member | posts 455 |
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Sunil from The Extra Money Blog said:
WOW – I DID NOT KNOW THIS COULD HAPPEN!!!!
now that you mention, one of my niche sites was making a consistent $900/mo from adsense, which has dropped to $700. a 200 drop, though significant in percentage terms, i guess didn't raise the flag high enough for me. i let it go and it has been a few months now and it is still in the 700 range. i will definitely look into this.
thank you so much for bringing this up! any idea how it could have been and what can be done to prevent it?
I wish I knew. One thing I read said to be careful with plugins, as some will actually go in and change your adsense pub-id to their own. That's about the only concrete thing I read. Google said there were looking into it, but that I would not hear back from them. (Surprise!)
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