Bloggers Beware: How I lost my Google AdSense account to a scammer

On today’s post, vintageFingerz your number one blog when it comes to promoting original content will share an interesting story of a young blogger who lost his Google AdSense account on the basis of wanting to get activation and validation from some more experienced blogger. If you are a blogger or you’d love to blog someday then this story should be able to help you ask the right questions and possibly offer solutions for bloggers who want to quit blogging for some reason such as I lost my AdSense account or I am not earning from blogging etc.

A tip to consider when seeking advice from any random blogger or page will also be highlighted on today's post so relax as we read through the young blogger's experience.

“Blogging is a great way to show your talents and interests to prospective employers while adding an edge to your resume. Consistent blogging shows your dedication, passion, and creativity all of which are attributes employers look for in job candidates”-Lauren Cornad. Just needed to slide that quote in there, now let’s get to our story…………….

A lot of new bloggers might be victims of AdSense lifting and hence they want to bring that creative writing part of themselves to an end.

My name is Gabriel and this is my story. While seeking admission into the university I engaged in a web design class where I was taught how to design websites and also its hosting features. As time went by, I was able to build a website for myself but that wasn’t enough, I wanted more. I’d love to see people interact with the webpage created so I subscribed to one out of the many hosting companies and had my site hosted.

ALSO, READ: How to get the best out of the lockdown

 It was like a breakthrough sending links to my site to friends and family everywhere I go. With time I realized there were no interactions on my site and I couldn’t even track who visited my site or not you know the feeling of “chai, my hosting money is just wasting with no interaction” That was when I was introduced to blogging and with research, I was good to go. 

Blogging was made easy with templates and tools made available by blog companies like Blogger and WordPress. I decided to go with Blogger because I find it to be easy, flexible, and user-friendly, also it's free hosting unlike the website created earlier. I started posting via my blogger account after which I’ll share links to my posts on different social media platforms.

As a guy who is new to blogging, I had large views from my readers thanks to my friends and family who supported me by checking my posts and then readers from all over the world. It was so amazing seeing all of these but I wasn’t earning then I did more research and found out about Google AdSense which was a bit complex but wasn’t a problem.

I applied for ads on my blog and in less than two weeks it was approved, trust me I designed my blog with AdSense to the point that bloggers within were forced to partner with me for ads. In no time the earnings started rolling and blogging was now more fun for me. At this time I was already in the university and everything was smooth, I had free Wi-Fi, and posts were on point also, new, and many views and clicks because my PPC and PPV had the results.

On one faithful day, I woke up and then went straight to see my earnings and noticed nothing, I quickly logged on to my dashboard and noticed my ads had all gone, “What could be the problem” as I had deep thought within myself. I contacted Google and I got feedback that my account was blocked for some reason and I needed to activate it with an ID either a driver’s license or an international passport but I had none so I contacted Selim who was a friend and a blogger as well and he told me it can be done. Without hesitation, I quickly agreed to his help, there he linked me up to a friend of his who wasn’t a student at my citadel of learning. We got talking and the guy (unknown helper), asked for admin privileges to enable him to activate my ads for me and the naïve Gabriel gave it out. In less than two days he called saying check your blog, to my surprise my ads were back, and with excitement, I forgot to change the password or deny privileges. Weeks and months passed as postings were smooth after all, my ads were back so who cares?

All that mattered was just for me to meet my threshold before cashing out, that was when it all came crashing down. I could no longer see my ads; the guy wasn’t picking up my calls and Selim had now said he met the guy on one of these social media blog platforms on Facebook. My head could not comprehend what was happening as I could no longer log in to my Google AdSense dashboard. I kept on seeing “This email is not associated with the AdSense account” I was like “mogbe”, that was when it dawned on me that I hadn’t checked my mail in a while so I decided to do that and discovered that Google had sent me a mail notifying me that there was a change on my AdSense account and I should follow a link to revert the change but as at then it was too late.

Long story short, the AdSense account was lost as well as the earnings to a stranger, and up to date I haven’t been able to get new ads or approval on my blog.

I am applying for new ads and when it is approved you will definitely be notified and steps taken will all be posted here on https://vintagefingerz.blogspot.com

In conclusion, when applying for AdSense, make sure that your site or blog has interesting and original content, and beware of fraudulent persons who will come to you as a fellow blogger only to hijack your hard-earned money. Bloggers Beware!