Comments on: Facebook Click Fraud Enraging Advertisers (Updated)

By: Bob La Quey

Bob La Quey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:38:28 +0000

Now we are seeing Click Fraud 2.0

Twitter is providing new opportunities for the click fraud criminals.

I thought you might be interested in the result of several months of
hard work on a research / Case Study (a 68 page report) on Twitter and
its Dark Side (Bit.ly). It is now on-line and can be checked out here:

Allow me mention only the two of many interesting finding from the Study like:
- BOTS vs. HUMAN analysis that shows up to 98% of robotic clicks on
Bit.ly’s short URLs or
- Over a MILLION bots clicks (1,677,769 to be precise) on a single Bit.ly link.

If you’d like to have a full PDF of it, you can get it here:
http://www.disp...Dark%20Side.pdf – it’s for
your eyes only. We’re selling the PDF so I put it on this unrelated
site so you can get it for free.

My very best to you,

Robert E. La Quey, PhD

By: na

na — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:49:18 +0000

This is happening to me right now! I just signed up and my google analytics is saying 3 visits that I had to my site today, facebook is saying 29? WTF IS THIS!

By: Bid Management Tools » Blog Archive » Click Fraud on the Rise?

Bid Management Tools » Blog Archive » Click Fraud on the Rise? — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:07:21 +0000

[...] TechCrunch recently published a story on this topic that generated more than 230 comments, many from other advertisers crying foul. [...]

By: AdFormer | Снова о скликивании и методах борьбы с этим явлением

AdFormer | Снова о скликивании и методах борьбы с этим явлением — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:31:51 +0000

[...] Facebook учитывет клики, которых не было. TechCrunch недавно опубликовал статью о том, что на эту тему было получено более 230 [...]

By: The facebook IPO – should I plan for it? « Online Marketing « Asia Online Marketing

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:28:44 +0000

[...] on Facebook? (My personal experience has not been that great. Facebook click reporting has always over-reported on clicks in each trial) Share and [...]

By: The Importance of Being Authentically Social

The Importance of Being Authentically Social — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:02:43 +0000

[...] As you may have read in the past, Facebook is not known for having the most impressive advertising results. Not only have Facebook employees stated that “two weeks is the max you want to run your ad” (at least with the same image), but Facebook has been accused in the past of actual click fraud. [...]

By: Aldrin Reodique

Aldrin Reodique — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:34:13 +0000

http://www.face...gid=80300457519

Question: The link above is a Facebook group that encourages clicks. Does this qualify as click fraud?

By: Mark R Robertson

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:09:59 +0000

Damn these comments are frustrating. Read the article folks (blah). There is definitely an issue with Facebook. I just got done running a campaign to “promote my facebook fan page” – total cost – $70, price per click – $.50, number of fans – 2…. Yeah, I know, my fan page must suck, right? number of actual clicks – 20

By: Barry Edison

Barry Edison — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:16:59 +0000

Leafing through the article and comments this seems like just a Facebook issue. I have not been running on Facebook yet, but was experiencing the same issue on MySpace through their MyAds campaign. Google analytics was attributing one visitor from MySapce for every 10 clicks I was paying for. So after a couple of weeks without any resolution from MySpace, I turned it off.

In doing so I lost two traffic sources, MySpace banners and a weird URl “delb.opt.fimserve.com (referral)” This additional source I discovered was Fox Interactive Marketing, did not seem to be coming to my site via the URL path set up for MySpace, but when I turned it off, this source alos dried up. By including these numbers I was up to 3 visitors for every ten clicks I paid for, still not an acceptable ratio.

Is anyone else experiencing this on MySpace? I guess I’m not so anxious to try Facebook.

By: I recieved a C&D from Facebook | MadPPC

I recieved a C&D from Facebook | MadPPC — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:32:53 +0000

[...] that really came full circle with the published techcrunch articles due to outcry of the community (original article and followup article). Now maybe they’ll fix their horrific ad manager (do you hear me [...]

By: Facebook Accused of Advertising Click Fraud in Class-Action Suit | BNET Advertising Blog | BNET

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:00:37 +0000

[...] advertising click fraud in a federal class-action lawsuit filed in California. The suit comes after June reports on TechCrunch that click fraud was rampant on [...]

By: JOLT Digest » RootZoo, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc. | Harvard Journal of Law & Technology

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:12:41 +0000

[...] and The Register offer overviews of the filing and a response from Facebook, while TechCrunch summarizes some of the preceding controversy and WickedFire discussion board [...]

By: TechGreen » Blog Archive » Is Privacy An Illusion? Facebook ‘Fans’ Claim Hack Exposes Private Profile Information

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:38:13 +0000

[...] is yet another blow to Facebook: yesterday Michael published an article about a weeks-long issue with click fraud on the social networking service, which the company acknowledged almost immediately with a promise [...]

By: Click Fraud Hits Facebook » RevenueToday

Click Fraud Hits Facebook » RevenueToday — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:43:53 +0000

[...] Michael Arrington points out on TechCrunch, scores of outraged affiliates have been venting their rage on WickedFire (forum membership [...]

By: Facebook being sued for click fraud – The Next Web

Facebook being sued for click fraud – The Next Web — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:52:30 +0000

[...] the first time Facebook has been the focus of click fraud allegations. TechCrunch just last month reported masses of complaints at WickedFire, an affiliate marketing forum. As Michael Arringon points out in [...]

By: PeterMontee

PeterMontee — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:54:59 +0000

Bravo, you were visited with an excellent idea

By: Social Media Spam Saturation: An Event Horizon for Online Networking | USASEOPros Blog

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:02:02 +0000

[...] what? Facebook is still booming! There are over 200 million users, and despite some issues like the click fraud that they’re dealing with, Facebook shows no real signs of slowing [...]

By: Click-fraud problems | Mike Andrews

Click-fraud problems | Mike Andrews — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:59:38 +0000

[...] as if Facebook are having a few issues with click-fraud. No surprises really, every major online advertiser faces the same problems. Just as [...]

By: BlogBuzz June 27, 2009

BlogBuzz June 27, 2009 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:06:44 +0000

[...] Facebook Click Fraud Enraging Advertisers [...]

By: Facebookのクリック詐欺入門

Facebookのクリック詐欺入門 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:05:20 +0000

[...] 今週の初めに本誌は、Facebookで大量のクリック詐欺が発生していることを報じたが、おそらく読者の脳には、理解よりもむしろ、たくさんの疑問が生じただろう。これは現に起きている問題であり、Facebookもそれを確認しているが、それがどのようにして、なぜ、起きているのかがよく分からない。そこで本誌は、何人かの広告主と詐欺師たちに取材をして、クリック詐欺のやり方と、それをやる理由について聞いた。 [...]

By: paintless

paintless — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:53:09 +0000

Scrapers, data mining and the app developers getting rev share are the culprits. FB is simply enjoying the ride. They arent engaged directly in fraud. 100% bounce rate on fraud clicks people..thats not people MANUALLY clicking on ads,, get real. These are scripts…

By: Facebook Click Fraud 101 | zbTech

Facebook Click Fraud 101 | zbTech — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:35:43 +0000

[...] posts earlier this week about the alarming amount of click fraud at Facebook left more than a few unanswered questions. The problem is real and was confirmed by Facebook. But [...]

By: Invalid clicks on Facebook and account credited - Sequential Logic

Invalid clicks on Facebook and account credited - Sequential Logic — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:59:17 +0000

[...] I came across the TechCrunch article about people on Wickedfire being up in arms about large amounts of invalid clicks, and was relieved [...]

By: Emile Bourquin

Emile Bourquin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:58:46 +0000

I received a credit for about 75% of what I felt were fraudulent clicks on some small test campaigns I did about two weeks ago. I’m pretty happy with that.

I found out about it by a message in my Facebook Ads Manager interface:

“Recently, we have detected an increase in invalid clicks on Facebook. Your account was impacted and as a result, we are crediting your account. Your credit has been automatically deposited into your Facebook account and will apply toward future advertising campaigns. Your credits expire December 15, 2009.”

By: The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Facebook Click Fraud 101

The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Facebook Click Fraud 101 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:47:35 +0000

[...] posts earlier this week about the alarming amount of click fraud at Facebook left more than a few unanswered questions. The problem is real and was confirmed by Facebook. But [...]