Lost Money???

1. 85

   DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years ago

   So, in today's mail, I got this very interesting communication:
   
   
   
   As I recall, you have to have signed up for an AdSense account, in order to participate in the HP ad program, correct?
   
   So, that means I do have one, but I sure as H-E-double-toothpicks can't access it AT ALL!
   
   I don't know where/how to find my account number, to see if it matches what is in the letter (I blacked out all the personally identifying information), and no matter what e-mail address I try, it "does not appear in our system," or "does not match" or words to that effect.
   
   It is possible that when I first signed up, I was using a Yahoo e-mail, but that won't come up either.  Also, in order to even enter that one, I had to go to the troubleshooting section, because on the normal 'sign in' page, it would not accept any but a g-mail address! 
   
   Any clues?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  At the very least, how do I find my AdSense account number, if I can't even get into the account???  Very frustrated, here, as the amount in question is (for us, anyway) a fair chunk of change that I'd really hate to see turned over to the State!

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   1. 91

      Saarith LMposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      You can try to contact the person listed at the bottom of this page.
      
      https://www.pwc.com/us/en/state-local-t … perty.html
      
      If this is a scam I am sure they would like to know.

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   2. 72

      galleryofgraceposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I suspect that it is a scam letter Most states that I am aware of do not try to find the people listed on the unclaimed list. Go to the unclaimed property government  site for your state and see if your name is on there..
      the list is public information.
      If not then you have given someone every password combo you have ever used.

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      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         You'll notice it's not the State that has sent her this letter.  The letter says that PWC has been retained by Google, not the state. 
         
         You'll notice MsLizzy had to ask us how to access her Adsense account, so she did not use a link provided on the letter to access her account. Therefore she hasn't given her usernames and passwords to anyone. 
         
         I've Googled and it seems the letter may be genuine.

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2. 91

   Jodahposted 6 years ago

   Here on HubPages, go to My Account, Earnings, and your Adsense code and details will be there for you to see.
   The first is the HP Ad Program details, and under that is the AdSense ones.

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3. 92

   Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years ago

   Hi Liz,
   
   You must have an AdSense account to be able to earn from the HubPages program. Even though the earnings in it may be only a few cents (as the bulk of your earnings will be via HP), you need to keep it open.
   
   When I started writing on HP, I was unable to access my AdSense account as it was linked to the now defunct WebAnswers and I had forgotten my password/ account number etc. AdSense blocked my opening a new account as they said I had an existing one. (Which I couldn't access.) Impasse. 
   
   I eventually managed to get it sorted by using the AdSense Login Troubleshooter.
   https://support.google.com/adsense/answ … ic=1190458
   
   HTH Beth

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   1. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Beth,
         I've checked, and the code/acct. number is not even close to what is shown in the letter; however, it's also preceded by the letters and dashes: ca-pub-  (It calls it an "affiliate code," and not an account number).
      This prefix is not included in the letter, either.  I don't believe I had AdSense at all before writing for HP; and at first, I was just writing, and did not have ads enabled.  It was only about a year after HP initiated its own ad program that I finally signed up, if I recall correctly.
      
      So, I am still left wondering if this is somehow my account, or if there was a mixup, and it belongs to someone else.  End result:  I'm still at an impasse and still can't get in.  I tried their 'troubleshooter' page already; it did not work.  No combination of name and e-mail or passwords that I tried were recognized. 
      It seems the troubleshooter requires at least part of your memory to be functional.    Since I can recall neither the email addy nor the password, nor which of a couple of variations of my name I use, I guess I'm just SOL!

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      1. 91

         Jodahposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe it is a scam.

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      2. 92

         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         I think I had the same problem. At the bottom of the page I linked to is
         "Forgotten your password?  Please visit Google Accounts to have your password re-sent to you."
         Click on https://accounts.google.com/ForgotPasswd
         and then enter any recovery email or phone number associated with your account. If you don't know these either, then I'm truly stumped.

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         1. 92

            sallybeaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            My first thought is that this looks like a scam.  Have you checked if other people have had the same letter?

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4. 65

   Jeanna218posted 6 years ago

   Did you try to look online and see if people got similar letters. Contact google directly and make sure you don't give any personal information until you are sure you did research to make sure it is not a scam.

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5. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   I googled PWC and Adsense and discovered several forum posts about this - it's probably not a scam, people have received these letters before.  The number quoted is your Customer ID, which is not the same as your Publisher ID.
   
   This money is owing to you.  Google has given PWC the name and address details from the Adsense account so there's no doubt it's yours.  You're not being asked to disclose personal information, so there's no risk involved if you sign and return the letter.
   
   However, there is a big danger - that they'll pay you the money and then close the account, because they think it's dormant!  You don't want to lose your Adsense account. So you need to access the account.
   
   How many email addresses do you have?  Make a list of them.
   
   Go to your "Earnings" page. Click on "Google Adsense Reports".  That will take you to Adsense.
   
   Click on "Sign in" in the top right hand corner.  Now try entering an email address.   If that email address doesn't have an Adsense account, it will say something like, "that email doesn't have an Adsense account, would you like to sign up for one?"   If you get that message, there's no point trying other passwords - that email address doesn't have an Adsense account.  So you can quickly get rid of most of the emails on your list. 
   
   Keep trying till you find one that allows you to click "Next".   Then you'll have to go through the process to recover your password. 
   
   If you can manage to access the account, then you should be able to request payment of the money from within the account and you won't need to send the letter back

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   1. 88

      NateB11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
   2. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Marisa; very helpful, as usual.
      I did not think such a large firm as Price-Waterhouse would be party to a scam of this nature, though, considering what happened during the meltdown in '08, I guess  nothing should surprise me...
      
      (But, it does say that I must both access my account and sign and return the letter...)
      
      UPDATE:
      
      I followed your instructions, Marisa, and it did let me all the way through to password recovery/change and then sign in.  It was at THAT POINT that it said there was no AdSense account associated with that e-mail.  Grr...
      
      You'd think they'd say so sooner!  Oh, well, I'll keep trying.

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6. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   Well, if it were a scam, Price Waterhouse would certainly not be a party to it.  Someone else would have copied their letterhead and be posing as them. 
   
   Which is another sign it's not a scam - check the address they are asking you to send the form to.   If it is Price Waterhouse's real address, there is no scam.  If there's no Price Waterhouse office with that address, it is a scam.
   
   If they are merely asking you to access your account and they don't provide a link to do so, then that can't possibly be a scam.  It could only be a scam if they've provided you with a special link to use to access it.
   
   Anyway, I strongly urge you to work on getting access to your Adsense account, and exhaust ALL avenues before you give up and return the letter.  If you accept the payout and let them close your adsense account, you will never get another one and that will be the end of your earnings on HubPages.

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   1. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I am nearing the end of my struggles with this....I've exhausted every email I can remember, and none of them work; all come up as either 'unrecognized as connected to an adsense account, OR I can't remember the password.
      
      I even went through the rigamaroll of changing the password, as I explained above, and to my disgust, it changed across the board for all my gmail accounts; I only wanted that special one for adsense alone!  Grrr!
      
      And after all that, I still can't get in.  I've now filled out their help form, from which they are supposed to send me a way to get in, BUT the form was very persnickety, and would NOT let me enter "this, OR this."  It had to be only a single e-mail, all in lower case (why, I don't know, as I don't use it or give it out that way, and it works fine; but always does seem to default to lower case).
      Then, they wanted to know on which site ads were not displaying properly, and I typed 'not applicable,' but it would not accept that; I was forced to put in a 'correctly formatted URL.'  I had no choice but to enter hub pages as that URL, as it's the only one I have associated...THEN, it wanted a copy of a government-issued ID as proof...etc...WOW!   
      
      I only hope they give me a chance to explain that the ads themselves are NOT the issue!!
      I am so frazzled at this point...oh, and BTW--that letter came by postal mail, not e-mail, so there would not be anything 'clickable' to worry about.  The mailing address is a P.O. Box in Tampa, FL, and several Tampa addresses to show up on their website.

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      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         If the email is accepted but you can't remember the password, then that's the one you want. All you have to do is sort out the password.
         
         There is no "special password for Adsense".  When you have a Google account, you have the same password across all the Google services associated with that account.
         
         You can, of course, have several Google accounts, each with a different email address.  But it sounds like you've found the one that's associated with Adsense so that's the one you want.
         
         That's why when you requested a new password, it changed the password across all the services.  So the next step would be:
         
         Make sure you're logged THAT Google account (whether it's your Gmail or Chrome, doesn't matter), AND you must also make sure you're logged out of any other Google accounts on your computer.
         
         Then open a new tab or window in your browser and try to log in to Adsense.
         
         I assume you are trying to log in at the right place:
         https://www.google.com/adsense/start/
         
         Click "sign in" in the top right hand corner.
         
         You should not have any problem logging in.  If you do, note EXACTLY what message you get.  Let us know and the Google helpdesk will also need to know.

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7. 58

   aleciajeanneposted 6 years ago

   I'm pretty sure the account number is in the earnings tab area. Mine is. I'm on my phone so I'm just guessing without going back and checking. My question is. Have you not gotten paid for your articles then? Minimum payout is $50

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   1. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I have been paid.  That is not the issue.  There is supposedly an amount that I earned, from...???  and it is being held prior to being simply turned over to the state, if I cannot get into my adsense account and show activity there.

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      1. 85

         Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         The letter says there has been NO activity on that Adsense account since that date.
         
         But you say you have been paid by Adsense recently (i.e. directly from Google, not by HubPages)?  If that's the case, then the letter must be a different Adsense account. 
         
         All the same, I think it's absolutely essential that you get into the Adsense account you've got associated with HubPages, so you can check whether the Customer ID matches up.  If it doesn't, then you must have accidentally opened another Adsense account somehow, and that's what you're using now.  That doesn't seem likely.

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         1. 85

            DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            No, I've never been paid by Google; the amount in question is below their payment threshold.
            I am just worried in case it is the account associated with Hub Pages, since my income here is from a triple-combo of HP's own ad program, Google, and Amazon.

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            1. 85

               Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               That's what I thought.  You've never been paid by Google, therefore you have no idea what the status of your Adsense account is.   It sounds as though you've never signed into your Adsense account since you created it - there may well be some verification or other step you needed to do in order to be paid, and there's a message waiting on your account to tell you so.
               
               You are allowed to have only ONE Adsense account, therefore there's a very very good chance that the Adsense account in question IS the one linked to HubPages.  If it is, and they close it, that's the end of your earnings on HubPages.

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8. 79

   Blogging Mommaposted 6 years ago

   When you signed up you gave them your tax information. You should contact them and let them know you are unsure of how to log into your account but that you can verify your social, DOB, name and all of that and they can handle it themselves for you.

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   1. 85

      DzyMsLizzyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Momma and Marisa--
        This is so frustrating.  I have filled out Google's form for a problem -- and it said "up to 3 days" to process...so, I wait.

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