Microsoft sues three in click-fraud scheme

About one in every seven clicks on an advertisement is estimated to be fraudulent, and Microsoft is trying to make that kind of deception more expensive for perpetrators.
The New York Times

The story "Microsoft sues three in click-fraud scheme" published June 15, 2009 at 9:30 PM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Go after 'em. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft- any search engine company who has advertisers that are being scammed by these crooks deserve to get nailed. I hope that Google and Yahoo jump on board on this one. This isn't a situation where it matters what search engine you prefer- everyone loses. <br /><br />Get those crooks.

[solitare_pax]

Wait a minute - I thought that on-line advertising was foolproof, aimed at a specific audience through recording their viewing habits and so on and so forth - and because of this, advertising in traditional media like TV, Radio and Print was a dead proposition. <br /> <br />So much for that theory.

[KTLA_knew]

Uh...why did you think that? Either you're new to the net, or you just made up that straw man out of nothing. On-line advertising has never been sold that way or been claimed to be foolproof.

[Seaspray0]

How come google never spotted this? Was this directed only at microsoft's search engine or was this happening on google as well?

[Universal_Indie_Records]

This happens on Google the most since it's the biggest.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Google doesn't want to admit that it is happening though. it throws off the stats and what you charge customers. That's why it's important for the other search engines to jump on this too or be awkwardly discovered to have known about it and doing nothing, charging advertisers knowingly for fraudulant clicks. Those advertisers won't be happy about that. <br /> <br />If you claim ignorance long enough, you might get excused. They need to join up now with MSFT to avoid a nasty embarassment (and possible litigation) later from the customers.

[weegg]

Even though I don't like MS, I fully support this effort of theirs. I tip my hat to them.

[yacahuma]

Google knows about fake clicks. At one time I was a victim of fake clicking but a competitor. My budget will be gone in a day. But no real visitors to my site. When I complain to Google they said that they found strange pattern but that they will not issue a refund. So I basically lost my money.

[Vegaman_Dan]

That is, unfortunately, the standard method of business there. It is up to you, the customer, to police the search engine's results and prove to Google that you are being scammed. You can check the forums to see this very common issue and a lot of compliaints like yours. <br /> <br />What you don't see is much of any resolution on Google's part ot fix it or give refunds. :/

[perropicante]

Google might not be doing much about it because it doesn't have anything to lose, the customers (advertisers) are the ones taking all the risk. If a fake click happens, Google collects its share and debits it from the advertiser's account. The advertiser gets no lead from the click, and can complain, but given Google's dominant position, advertisers are reluctant to switch to another search engine.<br /><br />I applaud Microsoft's efforts here. Their effort will benefit advertisers (the little guy :)) and hopefully set a precedent that will entice others to follow suit. Hopefully, www.bing.com will give them enough share to give advertisers a bargaining chip with Google in case of customer issues like those reported in this post: "Hey Google, these clicks seem fake. I'd like to get a refund, otherwise I'll take my dollars to bing".<br /><br />I think the competition in this landscape on the side of the search engines will lead to a lot of good wins for consumers in the search ecosystem. This lawsuit is such an example.

[scottthesculptor]

pay by click advertisement has ruined the web. <br />most porn, illegal file sharing and malicious web pages only exist to reap clicks. <br />There are so many "empty" pages that soon they'll outnumber real information (if they haven't already). <br />Advertiser don't care where the clicks come from and will only make token efforts if they think they're totally fake - they really don't care if they're real but supporting immoral/illegal sites.

[sundance808]

this is why my company stopped advertising in google.. I couldnt believe the number of the clicks we 'supposedly' got from the ad posting, I suspected something fishy was going on with or without google knowing and this validates it.