TheEnforcer
04-17-2005, 10:39 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Apr16.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58268-2005Apr16.html)
Sunday Business
Clicking To Steal
When Advertisers Pay by the Look, Fraud Artists See Their Chance
By David A. Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 17, 2005; Page F01
To Texas-based Auctions Expert International LLC, it was an easy way to make money on the Internet. Sign up with Google, which functions as a kind of online ad agency, and agree to let the online giant place ads on your Web site. Then, every time someone clicks on one of the ads, the advertiser pays a fee, and Google shares that fee with Auctions Expert.
The problem, according to a lawsuit filed last year by Google, is that Auctions Expert began clicking on the ads itself, artificially inflating the number of clicks and driving up the bills sent to advertisers.
Auctions Expert allegedly recruited as many as 50 people to click on online advertising, generating about $50,000 in ad revenue. The self-clicking was "worthless to advertisers, but generated significant and unjust revenue for defendants," the Google lawsuit said.
Auctions Expert, Google claims, appeared to be created solely to profit from manipulating the Internet ad process. A person answering the phone at the home of Sergio Marfin, an Auctions Expert executive named in the Google lawsuit, said Marfin was unavailable for comment.
Google, Yahoo and other providers of online ads said they are increasingly being targeted by online fraudsters, who exploit weaknesses in the Internet ad system to generate revenue or hurt their competitors. The Internet giants said they are working to combat the problem, but some advertisers accuse the companies of not moving aggressively enough because they also profit from the scams.
The tension comes as the click, click, click of the computer mouse steadily becomes the cyberspace equivalent of a cash register ringing up sales. These days, millions of computer users are clicking away on the small text ads set off from search engine results or other Web content, generating billions of dollars in fees paid annually by advertisers to Google and Yahoo and their Web partners.
Users seem to appreciate the fact that the tiny ads are less intrusive than other types of online marketing, such as those Internet pitches that pop up unbidden on the computer screen. And since advertisers typically pay only when someone interested in their products clicks on one of the ads, the system has proved to be a more cost-effective way to generate sales than banner ads and many types of traditional marketing.
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Click link for full article.
Lots of people use Google, etc for income generation. Interesting article that shows you may not be getting your moneys worth.
Sunday Business
Clicking To Steal
When Advertisers Pay by the Look, Fraud Artists See Their Chance
By David A. Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 17, 2005; Page F01
To Texas-based Auctions Expert International LLC, it was an easy way to make money on the Internet. Sign up with Google, which functions as a kind of online ad agency, and agree to let the online giant place ads on your Web site. Then, every time someone clicks on one of the ads, the advertiser pays a fee, and Google shares that fee with Auctions Expert.
The problem, according to a lawsuit filed last year by Google, is that Auctions Expert began clicking on the ads itself, artificially inflating the number of clicks and driving up the bills sent to advertisers.
Auctions Expert allegedly recruited as many as 50 people to click on online advertising, generating about $50,000 in ad revenue. The self-clicking was "worthless to advertisers, but generated significant and unjust revenue for defendants," the Google lawsuit said.
Auctions Expert, Google claims, appeared to be created solely to profit from manipulating the Internet ad process. A person answering the phone at the home of Sergio Marfin, an Auctions Expert executive named in the Google lawsuit, said Marfin was unavailable for comment.
Google, Yahoo and other providers of online ads said they are increasingly being targeted by online fraudsters, who exploit weaknesses in the Internet ad system to generate revenue or hurt their competitors. The Internet giants said they are working to combat the problem, but some advertisers accuse the companies of not moving aggressively enough because they also profit from the scams.
The tension comes as the click, click, click of the computer mouse steadily becomes the cyberspace equivalent of a cash register ringing up sales. These days, millions of computer users are clicking away on the small text ads set off from search engine results or other Web content, generating billions of dollars in fees paid annually by advertisers to Google and Yahoo and their Web partners.
Users seem to appreciate the fact that the tiny ads are less intrusive than other types of online marketing, such as those Internet pitches that pop up unbidden on the computer screen. And since advertisers typically pay only when someone interested in their products clicks on one of the ads, the system has proved to be a more cost-effective way to generate sales than banner ads and many types of traditional marketing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click link for full article.
Lots of people use Google, etc for income generation. Interesting article that shows you may not be getting your moneys worth.