Click fraud has long been a blight on search engines, but Microsoft says that it’s taken on a new form. According to the company, the latest scam disguises the source of bogus ad clicks and navigates unsuspecting users to dead-end Web sites.
In response, Microsoft has filed lawsuits to halt the practice and reassure its advertising partners that they will only pay for legitimate clicks. One suit comes against a firm in Texas, the other against a John Doe defendant as Microsoft attempts to trace the culprit.
E-Commerce Guide has the story on Microsoft’s counterassault against click fraud.
Microsoft said it has discovered a click fraud scam that could cheat search-engine advertisers out of “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
What’s more, the company filed two federal lawsuits this week in an attempt to take down purveyors of the scheme.