How Poor Vendor Oversight and Improper Access Controls Cost a Healthcare Brand Six Figures
Industry: Healthcare E-commerce
Risk Level: SEVERE – Financial & Reputational Loss
Incident Cost: $133,000+ in ad spend
Resolution Time: 2 weeks for containment; 2 months for recovery
Handled by: Greyhawk Forensics – AdTech & Access Control Response Team
Background
A well-established healthcare brand hired a third-party marketing agency to manage their Google Ads and campaign data via Google Analytics 4 and Merchant Center.
Initially, the campaign started strong—but within weeks, spending skyrocketed beyond projections, with zero corresponding increase in qualified leads, conversions, or revenue.
After failed attempts to reach the vendor for clarity, the healthcare client called Greyhawk Forensics.
The Discovery
Within 48 hours, our team uncovered a series of critical missteps and security breaches:
- The vendor connected unaudited third-party ad scripts into the Google Ads account.
- Budget caps and account spending limits were either removed or never implemented.
- Campaigns were running across irrelevant geolocations and non-healthcare niches — possibly to benefit other clients.
- Merchant Center disapproved several product feeds, but ads were still running, wasting budget.
- GA4 audience targeting was inaccurately segmented, resulting in poorly matched impressions.
Worse: No 2FA was enabled on key ad accounts, and the main billing profile was shared across multiple brands by the vendor.
The Impact
- $133,000 lost in unoptimized and misdirected ad spend
- Zero qualified leads in 3 weeks
- Brand trust eroded due to random ad placements (including on gaming and political sites)
- High risk of Google Ads account suspension due to quality violations
Greyhawk’s Forensic Response
- Immediate lockdown of all Google Ads and Analytics access tokens
- Revoked access for third-party vendors
- Set up custom dashboards for ad spend monitoring in real-time
- Rebuilt ad campaigns from the ground up with verified geotargeting and segmented intent keywords
- Audited and corrected Merchant Center and product feed compliance
- Deployed Greyhawk’s proprietary AdSpend Shield™ System – a rules-based AI monitor for suspicious ad anomalies
Results
- Ad spend stabilized within 7 days
- $40,000 in ad credits recovered via Google support escalation
- ROI increased by 4.7x in 30 days post-rebuild
- All access logs, vendor behavior, and campaign performance were archived and handed off for legal review and evidence
Lessons Learned
- Never share ad billing profiles across multiple clients
- Insist on transparency from third-party marketing vendors—including access logs and change histories
- Without independent forensic oversight, your marketing budget can silently bleed
- Use auditable contracts that define data ownership, spend accountability, and access limits
Final Thought from Greyhawk
Marketing mismanagement is not just bad business—it can be a breach.
If you don’t own your ad data, your targeting, or your platform access… you don’t own your brand.
Suspect an Ad Spend Leak or Vendor Exploitation?
Greyhawk Forensics has recovered over $2M in compromised ad budget for clients in 2024 alone.
👉 Book an AdTech Risk Assessment:
https://greyhawkforensics.online
