There was a 'Click Fraud' article in Business Week. See URL: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_40/b4003001.htm?campaign_id=nws_insdr_sep22&link_position=link1 Has anyone encountered this spoofing of a 3rd party (usually off shore) to recycle ads displaying, legitimately, on Google or Yahoo---hence, driving up the click thrus but not conversion because the audiences are inappropriate to the advertiser's brand? If yes, what tools/s are you using to monitor? What tools are you using to block? Can Cyveillance handle?
I wouldnt get overly worried about that article. It seems quite bias in a way to force Google and Yahoo to lower their prices or force people away from online advertising. Click fraud is out there, but for the majority of people it isnt a problem. You can limit your exposure to the big-cheats - Block the china pay-to-click sites in China from showing your ads As a publisher, that makes interesting reading for me. That article quotes people making $25 a month or more as being ad-cheats. Quite ridiculous with that being less than $1 a day and much less than most hosting fees.
It wouldn't be ridiculous if they had more than 100 person getting $25 a month. That would be $2,500 loss per month for those advertisers. Imagine if there were more than 100 of them, which is quite possible and maybe also the reason why they're making a big fuss about it.
^ it doesnt make financial sense to be doing click fraud and getting $1 a day. I could get more by working 10mins in the real world on minimum wage. Thats what my point was. Although in places like China etc, a dollar a day may sound good, which is why I suggest not advertising to those areas.