Advertisers using a CPC model (cost per click, where you pay a certain amount for each click) are constantly struggling with click fraud. For those that don’t know, click fraud is a practice that usually involves a publisher displaying CPC ads and then clicks on those ads so that they get paid. That fraudulent activity can either by done manually or by an automated program.

Companies that provide CPC solutions, such as Google’s AdSense, try to prevent click fraud, but are apparently losing that battle as a new report suggests click fraud to have grown to 17.1% last quarter.
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Identity theft has been an increasing concern for many. With credit card theft, online account hacks, and a multitude of other identity related crimes constantly on the rise, law enforcement agencies seem to always be a few steps behind. For one FBI agent, however, three years undercover proved to be quite a revealing and successful operation.

Mularski, the undercover FBI agent, was able to infiltrate a popular online identity theft black market, where people would buy and sell stolen credit cards, accounts, and machines used for counterfeiting. Not only was he able to grant access to the site while posing as an identity thief, he was able to eventually work his way up to administrator where he was given access to all transactions on the site as well as user information that law enforcement agencies were able to use to track down and arrest 59 people while preventing an estimated $70 million in bank fraud.

It’s quite an interesting read so be sure to read the full story.

Apparently a good number of high profile Twitter accounts were hacked and used for various underhanded motives. Some were used to make fun of celebrities, such as Bill O’Reilly’s account saying “Bill O Riley is gay” and Rick Sanchez’s account saying “i am high on crack right now might not be coming to work today”. Other accounts were used to for profit, such as president-elect Barack Obama’s account posting a link to an survey where an affiliate makes money per sign up.

The messages all seemed to be written by different people with different purposes, but all happened at the same time which was a weird coincidence. It appears that it may have all started with one person “Gmz”, posting the various account credentials on a forum where others likely grabbed them to use for their own reasons.

Obviously impersonating others online is incredibly unethical. Whether you are doing it maliciously to embarass them or to use their influence to make money, what you are doing is wrong. Of course, not only is it wrong, it will likely lead to some nasty consequences if you are dumb enough to target the next president while leaving behind an easily trackable trail in an affiliate link.

Web services are slowly, but surely, being exposed for their lack of business ethics and potential illegal behavior. One such website, Classmates.com, has recently been attacked in a lawsuit for what boils down to false advertising and fraud.

Basically, Anthony Michaels, the plaintiff, is claiming that Classmates.com fraudulently misrepresented information to lure him into upgrading his account. The site dangled a carrot in front of him by saying his classmates were trying to get in touch with him when in reality, they were not.

Seems like a pretty straightforward case, though lawsuits regarding the internet never seem to get proper attention by the courts. If the decision lands in the plaintiffs favor, it could send repercussions throughout the Web as similar tactics are used all the time by dating websites, social networks, and other subscription-based services.

Online dating services are fairly big business on the Web. As previously discussed, the potential for earning big bucks with dating websites is part of the reason why there are so many fake profiles on the internet. But fake profiles aren’t the only way to lure in potential victi… er… I mean customers.

Offline marketing is a relatively untapped resource for pushing online services. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any companies out there taking advantage of some “old school” marketing tactics. Take this recently published article where a guy discovers just how far a particular company has gone by using good ‘ol lawn signs of all things.

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