Microsoft's War on Click Fraud
Microsoft's crusade continues: In June 2010 the tech giant filed a lawsuit against RedOrbit, an approved member of Microsoft's adCenter Network, for generating invalid clicks through bogus third-party sites. Microsoft is alleging that the PPC company manipulated Microsoft's code so it could syphon of more profits for itself. Eric Ralls, the owner of RedOrbit, has denied all charges.
Microsoft made big news when it revealed its first lawsuit again click fraudsters in June 2009, alleging that Eric Lam, Gordon Lam and Melanie Suen, as well as various corporations they were believed to have used. According to Microsoft, several auto insurance advertisers noted a large spike in ad clicks and fees. At the same time, employees noted a similar situation occurring for ads for World of Warcraft. They discovered the link, a Mr. Eric Lam, who was an advertiser for World of Warcraft while also taking fees for pushing auto insurance ads. The charge is that Lam, working for low-level auto-insurance sites, was directing traffic to competitors' pages in order to eat away at their profits. Experts are applauding Microsoft's decision, claiming that it could create a strong disincentive for one of online-advertising's worst enemies.