Adsense disabled (my story) – Fake email? Click Bombed? Updated: I got it back!

Let me start of by saying that I had learn the hard way. I mainly use Adsense to monetize my videos on Youtube. Today (Oct 11 2011) I received an email from “Google Adsense” I opened it and read it thru and I was in awe. Ive had a perfect record for over a year and would never do anything to compromise my account so this led me to believe someone might have clicked my ads a lot to get my account disabled. 

This is the email I received from “Google”:

From: Google Adsense adsense-adclicks-noreply@google.com

Subject: Google Adsense Account Disabled

I was half asleep when I read it on my iPhone and the first thing I did was click on the form to find out more. I read thru and submitted the appeal but right before that, I checked my Adsense and there was a message saying that it had been blocked and gave no real explanation. At that moment I was (still am) in shock because that was my main source of income. I searched online and did hours worth of research and found that the email I got was a fake email and does not come from Google. Some people were smart and did not click on anything and their Adsense was fine when they logged in but I did not log in to my account before clicking the link. I am still trying to contact Google in every way possible but their customer support is poor and do not have a phone number so people can call. 

I will keep trying and wont give up on trying to get my Adsense back. If you are reading and have an Adsense account that has not been disabled then please be careful, I do not want this to happen to anyone. Note that Google will never send out emails about your accounts being closed but if they do then they will include your name and more information. Do not and I repeat, do not click on any links in any emails for serious matters like this. 

Another thing I recommend is that you should not rely on only Google. Sign up for other advertising networks and put those on your website instead, after all the research I did, there are networks that will pay much more than Adsense and you wont have to rely on them alone.

P.S if you are a Youtuber then make sure you have your videos uploaded to places like blip.tv, vimeo, iTunes, metacafe etc… Just incase anything ever happens.


This will be updated as I find more about this…

Update: (10/19/11)
My youtube partnership has been stripped away. The only way I can get it back if I get my Adsense back. I still have not gotten a reply from Google.

Update: (10/20/11)
Google responded saying they would not reinstate my account. They responded to my first message but not to my second, which I sent a couple of hours after the first, but I just sent a third explaining even more. 
A former Google employee told me too keep sending repeals until they reinstate my account because they are not good at actually reviewing all forms.

Update: (2/5/12)

Alright. It has been a while since this happened and all I can say is Google’s customer service sucks. I was not able to get a reply or diagnostics on what happened to my account. Since then I moved YouTube channels and became a youtube partner with a 3rd party network. I also put moved more videos to blip.tv, vimeo, and iTunes which have gotten 40k in a couple months which is not bad so far. If you ever want tips then feel free to email us at dargadgetz[at]gmail.com. 

Update: (12/19/13)  

Earlier this year, around October, I received a response from the reinstating my account. I have yet to use it for anything but it’s good to know I got it back.