28
February
2006
|
10:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Click fraud could be a $1bn racket--Fair Isaac study

Here is an excellent story on the subject of click fraud from the consistently good CIO Today magazine.


Click Fraud Gets Smarter


http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=41828


Does Google and the others have the technology to filter out click fraud? Greg Boser is going to put that to the test:


Web consultant Greg Boser has an ingenious method for sending loads of traffic to clients' Internet sites. Last month he began using a software program known as a clickbot to create the impression that users from around the world were visiting sites by way of ads strategically placed alongside Google search results.
The trouble is, all the clicks are fake. And because Google charges advertisers on a per-click basis, the extra traffic could mean sky-high bills for Boser's clients.

But Boser's no fraudster. He cleared the procedure with clients beforehand and plans to reimburse any resulting charges. What's he up to? Boser wants to get to the bottom of a blight that's creating growing concern for online advertisers and threatens to wreak havoc across the Internet: click fraud.


The article makes a good case for the need for an independent third party to monitor this problem.