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A comment on Uncovering an advertising fraud scheme (NSFW) (2011). Parent comment

Re:Uncovering an advertising fraud scheme (NSFW) (2011) by jonknee on Tuesday March 19, 2013 @04:34PM (#5403435)
I'm curious what laws this breaks. Has anyone been prosecuted for similar click fraud? It seems like a contract dispute and the advertiser has the ability to not pay and perhaps come after the scammer for past losses, but it's a TOS violation more than a legal one.

Google is pretty famous for shutting the door on AdSense publishers without much of an appeals process, but I haven't heard of them pursuing anyone criminally. Google even let go a case that involved extortion (someone set on releasing click fraud software unless Google paid up).

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-12-04/the-vanishing...

It appears Google values its secrets more than their losses to click fraud.

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Re:Uncovering an advertising fraud scheme (NSFW) (2011) by skcin7 on Tuesday March 19, 2013 @05:08PM (#5403652)
I'm not sure what laws it breaks but the laws are so ambiguous you could really be charged with a wide variety of things all depending on how much the prosecution wants to put you away. Could be anything from money laundering to computer abuse to mail fraud depending on a lot of variables involved - and also very much depends on what country the person accused is from.
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