"Unauthorised access" Suspension - Very frustrating

[one11]

Some days ago I noticed that our ads had stopped displaying for 2 days. I emailed Google and received a reply saying:

"I found that this is because our system has detected unauthorised access to your account. Therefore, as a precaution, your account has been temporarily suspended while we investigate this matter..."

Most likely this is because I have been travelling in China and been using an american VPN as in China many sites are slow and blocked (even Google docs are blocked).

I replied to their email and I just received another similar email again. I have called them twice and they just tell me they can't do anything & that they need to wait for the investigation to be complete.

Our ads have now been offline for 5 days and there is no end in sight. I really don't understand what is the problem and why it is taking so long. I thought Google is meant to be a leader in web technologies and I did not expect such problems for simply using a VPN. Anyone has any suggestions on how to talk to or escalate the matter to someone who can actually do anything?

[trinorthlighting]

Never log on from another country in adwords. China has had rampant issues with fraud and google really wants to protect itself and your account. When you get back to your home country send an email from your usual ip address and they should wrap it up.

Bear in mind, google has no way to verify if the email is from you or a potential scammer.

[smallcompany]

I could imagine that there should be a certain number of people that travel in a way they're half year here and half year there.
I assume this simply based on the nature of online business and the money that can be earned.
Therefore it should not be strange for a young single business(man/woman) to do exactly that.
I would not expect a huge number of people to do it, but some certainly.

Few years ago I traveled to Europe for few months and did not experience any trouble.
Sure, it's all about the country you're in, and I think trinorthlighting's remarks are totally valid.

For the future reference, it may be wise to communicate traveling plans to Google before departing. It would be interesting to see their reply.

[one11]

Its a shame that they use quick fixes which greatly inconvenience people (eg. suspend accounts) instead of fixing the system (eg. a more secure login such as an onscreen keyboard or SMS verification).

Anyway I am relieved that after around 6 days of the ads being offline, they are now online again and they emailed saying "I would like to tell you that an AdWords Specialist has investigated your account and did not find any signs of unauthorised access"