A Google Ads contact who emailed advertiser Joe Youngblood appears to have used an AI-generated name and profile photo, according to Search Engine Roundtable. The claim rests on one advertiser’s account and is not independently confirmed.
Youngblood, writing on X, said a call from a Google Extended Workforce (xWF) contractor was followed an hour later by an email from “Kassy Garcia,” who was billed as a Google Ads Strategist. He found no LinkedIn profile under that name. He also said Google’s AI checking tool flagged the email’s photo as AI-generated.
In a later update, Youngblood said another SEO located an outsourcing-firm worker with a similar name and face, possibly the same person, who may have used Gemini to make the headshot. Whether that firm works for Google is unknown.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable said he asked Google about it and did not hear back. Google’s help documentation tells advertisers to verify anyone acting for Google, noting that its representatives use addresses ending in @xwf.google.com.
Advertisers who receive unsolicited outreach should check the sender’s domain against that documented format and confirm identity before granting account access or acting on optimization advice.
Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz, reporting on posts by Joe Youngblood dated October 29 and November 2, 2026.
