At Little Dragon Media, we receive a steady stream of legitimate leads from businesses looking for help with SEO, Google Ads, and digital marketing in general. But this week, one of those inquiries almost fooled us… and it was a phishing scam disguised as a legit client request.

We’re sharing this story to warn other agencies, freelancers, and marketing professionals: scammers are getting smarter. If you run a service-based business, you’re a target. Phishing scams are on the rise and we all need to be EXTREMELY careful…

🚨 The Inquiry That Looked Totally Legit

We received a form submission on our website that looked like this:

Name: Mary Remillard
Email: hr@homelightads.com
Phone: (754) 444-0235
Organization: HomeLight

“Hi, I’m Mary Remillard, and I lead People Operations here at HomeLight.
We’re currently in search of a reliable and experienced Google Ads partner to help us scale our performance marketing efforts…”

It looked very professional. The company name, tone, the signature and purpose felt believable — especially because we actually do help real estate businesses in the U.S. with Google Ads.

Then came the Google Ads account invitation…

🕵️ The Scam Part: A Phishing Email Disguised as a Google Ads Invite

Shortly after replying, we received what looked like a Google Ads invitation:

From: googkealertnoreply@gmail.com
Subject: Accept your invitation to access a Google Ads account
Sender Name: Google Ads
Account ID: 799-668-4488
Invited by: johnsmith@homelight.com

At first glance, it looked like a standard Google Ads invite… until we looked closer.

🚩 5 RED FLAGS We Almost Missed

1. Misspelled sender address: googkealertnoreply@gmail.com Google never uses a Gmail domain to send Ads invites.
2. Domain mismatch: homelightads.com is not the real HomeLight website (homelight.com is). The scam domain was freshly registered.
3. Unusual tone in follow-up emails: The email tried to rush us into clicking the link without a proper discovery call or background check.
4. No LinkedIn presence: “Mary Remillard” had no online footprint, no LinkedIn profile, no mention on HomeLight’s real site.
5. Customer ID lookup led nowhere: The supposed Google Ads customer ID didn’t match anything we could verify.

🎯 What Was the Scam Trying to Do?

The goal of this phishing scam was likely to get us to:

• Click a malicious link disguised as a Google Ads invite
• Gain access to our Google account or devices
• Possibly compromise our clients’ data or run malicious ads under our MCC account

In other cases, scammers use this tactic to inject malware, phishing scripts, or steal Google login credentials.

🛡️ How to Protect Yourself

If you run a marketing agency or freelance consultancy, here’s how to stay safe:

✅ Always verify domains

Use a WHOIS lookup to check if a domain is real, and compare it to the official company website.

✅ Never accept Ads invites from Gmail addresses

Google will never send invites from @gmail.com — only via @google.com or verified business domains.

✅ Search their name and company on LinkedIn

If you can’t find the person or their team online, proceed with caution.

✅ Check your email headers

Advanced tip: Look at the email header source to verify the sending IP and domain authenticity.

✅ Use a secure client intake process

Only grant access after:

• A discovery call
• Verified company email
• Signed agreement or scope of work

Don’t Be Embarrassed — Be Vigilant

We almost fell for it. And we run a digital agency with over 15 years of experience.

That’s how good these phishing emails are becoming.

If you ever receive a suspicious inquiry that seems “too perfect,” slow down. Do a little digging. Because once a hacker gets access to your systems or Google Ads MCC, it can cause major damage.

Have You Seen a Similar Scam?

We’d love to hear about it — send us a message or tag us on social media to keep the community aware. If you’re a digital agency or consultant, stay sharp and share this post to help others stay safe.

Together, we can help make the digital marketing space safer for everyone.

Looking for a Real & Trustworthy Google Ads Partner?

At Little Dragon Media, we’ve been managing Google Ads and PPC campaigns for clients across North America for over 15 years. We know how to scale campaigns ethically, transparently, and profitably — without the gimmicks.

If you’re looking for a legit Google Ads partner you can trust, get in touch with us here. Whether you’re scaling nationally or running a local campaign, we’ve got your back.

Talon Uddin

Talon is the Director of Growth at Little Dragon Media. As an ex-Google employee, Talon understands the ins and outs of SEO and Google Ads at a deep level. He enjoys helping small businesses improve their digital marketing ROI through cutting-edge search engine optimization and marketing strategies.