So, what is click fraud and how does it occur? Wikipedia provides us with a definition:
"Click fraud occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating an improper charge per click. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud whether they like it or not."
However, I would like to simplify this definition. Click fraud is a crime, plain and simple. Cybercrime, however, is hard to track. Law enforcement has only just recently started focusing on the threat of click fraud.
Click fraud is now being targeted by some of the industry's biggest names. This movement has both the American court and government system involved. Business Week recently announced that major brands including Expedia.com and mortgage broker LendingTree.com planned to go public with their disputes over click fraud in late September.
Who can blame them? When it's your mon?y that's going out the door, you need to be asking quest?ons. Unfortunately, Google and Yahoo haven't come up with many answers.
They have certainly paid lip service, indicating that they have systems in place to deter it, but the click fraud numbers continue to rise.