Our Google Ads Account Was Hacked. Google Punished Us For It.
A hacker ran $3,973.75 in fraudulent charges through our account in 61 minutes. Google suspended us, denied our appeal in under 2 hours, and then ignored our lawsuit. We're fighting back — and you might have the same story.
By the Numbers
What Happened
We are Public Locksmith, a licensed locksmith business serving Charlotte, NC and the surrounding area. For years, Google Ads and Google Local Services (Google Guaranteed) were our primary source of new customers.
On March 16, 2026, an unauthorized hacker broke into our Google Ads account and, using automated scripts, made 334 changes in 61 minutes — creating fake Apple tech-support scam campaigns completely unrelated to our business. The hacker set a daily budget of $4,582/day (our actual budget was $1/day) and ran up $3,973.75 in fraudulent charges before the account was flagged.
The next day, Google suspended our account for "Malware Software" violations — violations caused by the hacker, not by us.
Google's Response: A Two-Hour Denial
We filed an appeal on March 18, 2026. Google's own message stated that review typically takes five business days. Instead, Google denied our appeal in under two hours — with no opportunity to present our evidence, no human review, and no explanation beyond a form email.
Our account is suspended because of the hacker's campaigns. We can't delete those campaigns because our account is suspended. Google's support system for suspended accounts offers no phone number, no live chat, and no email address that accepts replies. The appeal form is the only option — and it was denied before anyone could have read the evidence.
⚠️ How the Catch-22 Plays Out, Step by Step
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1Account suspended by Google Reason: "Malware Software" — caused by the hacker's fraudulent "SearchCr" campaign ($4,582/day budget, $3,970 charged).
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2We try to delete the hacker's campaigns To remove the violation, we need to delete the fraudulent "SearchCr" campaign.
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3Blocked: account is suspended We can't make any changes — including deleting the hacker's campaigns — because the account is suspended.
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4No way to contact Google No phone. No email. No live chat. The appeal form was denied in under 2 hours. The notification emails say: "This message was sent from a notification-only email address that doesn't accept incoming emails."
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∞Back to step 1 — forever The account remains suspended. The hacker's campaigns remain. The losses continue. Google profits from the fraudulent clicks.
We also lost our Google Local Services / Google Guaranteed account — 220 leads before the suspension, zero after. Our incoming call volume dropped by 77.3% (from ~0.86 calls/day to ~0.20 calls/day). We estimate a net business loss of approximately $198 per day since March 17, 2026 — and counting.
Timeline of Events
Two Active Lawsuits
Mecklenburg County Small Claims Court
Filed for the $3,973.75 in fraudulent charges billed to our account by the hacker. Summons served to Google's registered NC agent on March 26, 2026. Google has not responded or provided any restitution.
Mecklenburg County District Court
Filed for additional and continuing damages caused by Google's refusal to restore our account, restore our leads, or provide any meaningful remediation. Claims include breach of contract, negligence, and unfair trade practices (NC Gen. Stat. § 75-1.1 — which allows for treble damages).
If you run a locksmith business (or any small business) and use Google Ads, this could happen to you tomorrow. Account hacks, fraudulent charges, and the same circular support nightmare happen to small businesses across the country every day. Google profits from the fraudulent clicks and bears no consequences.
We believe the number of affected businesses is large enough to support a class action lawsuit. If your Google Ads or Google Local Services account was suspended after unauthorized activity, and Google refused to restore it or reimburse you, we want to hear from you.
Further Reading — The Full Record
Beyond this overview, four companion pages document the case in depth: