i really didint figure it out but i imagine google is ALWAYS looking at your stats by any direct or indirect mean. Anyway cheating (false clicks) wont pay. hope that someone with more experience may give you a better answer.
Yes, I believe stats are being looked at continuously as part of the program. Not so much by humans but by various algorithms that can detect weird things.
They are constantly looking at your CTR....so if its too high over 12-15% they will flag your account and a human will go to your site and see whats happening. If they figure out that you are clicking on your own ads then they will ban you
Seems after the 50 dollar mark the ban happens or if your lucky and make it past that and enter your pin you may get banned when it comes time to pay a week before usually. Most bans occur when " Pins in the mail " or the " Checks in the mail " or in most cases " When the Check should be in the mail "
well, im having about 5% ctr in the last months... but in total, i have an 1%CTR.. so i think there will be no problem with google... i just need 10$ to reach my first check of adsense! hope i can get them before agoust ends.