Click fraud is a lot of things and one of which is a crime. That’s why it drives me up a wall when people try to take advantage of a good system and enrich themselves in a less than honest manner. Then again, they may think they are smart but they really are doing something foolish. They are risking a lot because the civil and criminal penalties possible. That is why I follow the straight and narrow and you should as well.
Problems surrounding click fraud have been proliferating since the very beginning of pay per click advertising. Unfortunately, not every person who engages in an entrepreneur is an honest person. That is why they may take liberties with clicking on ads not to learn more about the advertiser and his product. Rather, they are clicking on their own ads with the express purpose of enriching themselves through ill-gotten clicks. Never fall into this category if you are a PPC marketer! Often, when such a profiteer is discovered through PPC tracking programs, the person pay per click account will be dissolved. As a result, they will lose any potential payments. However, this could prove to be the least of their worries as it is also possible to fall into in legal hot water for click fraud if such fraudulent business practices involve a great deal of money.
When I sign on with a Pay Per Click company, I follow the rules. I would suggest everyone else do the same things. Remember, when you agree to the terms of agreement to a Pay Per Click company, you are signing a contractual agreement. Upon this agreement, you will be required to follow the established rules and conditions and avoid any barred behavior. If you do commit any fraudulent behavior, you have breached the contract and lose any claim on monetary rewards. Additionally, under certain circumstances, willful violation of the contract could also lead to criminal penalties as may be the case with blatant click fraud. And yes, ad tracking software can often expose such fraud and the results can be used as evidence against the perpetrator.
Here is something that I found quite surprising and it is certainly info that will make you realize the importance of staying on the straight and narrow:
In some jurisdictions such as the state of California, committing click fraud is a felony. That means anyone who is caught pilfering money through a click fraud venture could be prosecuted and sentenced to a prison term. The duration of the sentence will vary depending upon how much money was illegally procured. However, it is safe to say the more money a fraudster appropriates illegally, the longer the prison sentence will be. Usually, the ability to succeed in a large scale click fraud case will center on using computer scripts to automatically click on ads. When ad tracker based evidence of such a venture is entered into court, juries will doubtfully look positively on such a defendant. After all, the defendant has taken many clear steps to purposely commit an act of fraud to acquire undeserved payments. As such, it is doubtful leniency will be offered.
If you earn income through a PPC venture and it is later discovered fraud has occurred, it is possible for the PPC company to file a civil lawsuit to recoup the improper payments. However, it may be possible for the PPC company to seek punitive damages as well. This could lead to an enormous judgment against those who have committed serious volumes of monetary fraud.
Then, there is another aspect to click fraud legal issues that some may not be aware of. The advertiser can sue the PPC company to recoup the payments is made due to the result of third party click fraud. For example, in 2006, Google agreed to a lawsuit settlement of $90 million with a company called Lane’s Gifts and Collectibles. This occurred after the company proved it paid out millions of dollars to Google for ad clicks that were committed by fraudulent activity. Needless to say, companies such as Google will certainly pursue those who commit fraud aggressively because Google can find itself in legal hot water when fraud occurs.
I realize there are those who may be able to get away with committing click fraud for the short term. However, once they are discovered, the legal issues that can derive could be pretty severe. That’s why I stick with the straight and narrow and it is also why you should as well!
Related Articles:
- Protecting Your PPC Campaigns Against Click Fraud
- The Worst Threat Ever To PPC
- New pages on click fraud added
- New Update – Click Fraud Case Studies!
- Tips for Preventing Click Fraud
One of the first things I discovered about PPC marketing was that not everyone who clicks on an ad will make a purchase. It was my mistake to think that all of my loyal visitors would make a click from my sight. After all, not everyone who visits a department store buys anything. And yes, there will also those that will click through who never had any interest in making a purchase. They just want to look at your website for informational purposes and you have to pay for these clicks regardless. I would get annoyed and irked over this type of activity but I learned not to take things so serious. The way to overcome the problem is to maximize your potential as far as converting customers.
Click Fraud criminals are costing online advertisers thousands of dollars simply by clicking a mouse. It is such a seemingly feeble act, but Click Fraud seriously defeats online advertising efforts (and dollars).
With all the new industry information about click fraud we strive to keep the most up to date information. To improve awareness about click fraud and educate the public we have added several new pages. Each page plays an important roll in the overall flow of our website that will help to educate everyone.
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