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WoW Gold Sellers Sued by Microsoft for Click Fraud
Microsoft have dragged three family members in Canada to court for illegally manipulating traffic to their gold selling website for the popular online game World of Warcraft (WoW).
The two brothers and mother team from Vancouver are alleged to have engaged in click fraud, deliberately sabotaging competitors’ pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns in order to boost traffic to their own websites.
PPC campaigns are a component of internet advertising where companies bid for sponsored adverts of certain keywords. The keyword promotion then drives traffic to a client’s website, with each click on the advert costing the client an agreed amount.
The Canadian trio used a computer program to stump up a huge amount of false clicks for keywords such as “WoW” and “WoW Gold” on rival adverts in order to exhaust online advertising budgets and creating a bias towards their own websites. The website, WoWMine.com sells virtual gold to players in the World of Warcraft at an exchange rate of $125 for 5000 gold.
The practice of gold selling, which has been banned by the game’s creators Blizzard Entertainment, is still a thriving business model for traders wanting to profit from the online game which boasts over 11 million players world wide.
Eager to send a stern message to other click fraudsters, Microsoft is suing the three Canadians for $750,000. Microsoft’s general counsel, Tim Cranton told The New York Times: “We have decided to become more active in the commercial fraud area on the enforcement side.” Mr Cranton added: “The theory is you can change the economic around crime or fraud by making it more expensive.”
Although just a drop in the ocean of click fraud, Microsoft are making a statement, and are keen to clamp down on cyber criminals to set a punishing precedent to others.
News and Public Relations news posted by Benny Henson on 16 June 2009
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Awesome!
I hope other search engine companies like Google act on this. They almost have the same search results for Microsoft and I wouldn't doubt that these 3 people are also scamming them as well. Anyway, as I was browsing the net for more info about these guys, I've found a website where the author reviews gold selling sites and guess what, Microsoft's best friend WoWMine is included. EGF (name of the author) even included screenshots as proofs how WoWMine is such a lame and a company full of scammers. http://www.wowgoldfacts.com/2009/06/17/an-open-letter-to-googlecom%E2%80%99s-matt-cutts/
Comment posted by Ringo on 19/06/2009 12:22:06
