Lawsuit Confirms That Microsoft is Serious About This Bing Business
If the $100 million advertising campaign wasn't enough to convince you that Microsoft is serious about its new search engine--and the New York Post says Google's convinced--maybe the fact that Microsoft is suing people for click fraud will be. (Click fraud is when you get people or programs to repeatedly click online ads to make more money for yourself or exhaust a competitor's advertising budget, so their ads don't appear or lose top placement.) Now that it's got Bing, Microsoft will not have people messing with search engine results!
The Lam/Suen family--Brothers Eric and Gordon Lam, Mom Melanie Suen--was allegedly using click fraud to make more money for their site WoWMine.com--mainly by clicking competitors' ads until their competitors' ad budgets were exhausted. Thus, Microsoft is suing them for $750,000. The site sells virtual gold for the popular role-playing game, World of Warcraft, (the game's makers don't support this illicit gold dealing) and also apparently also sells info to auto insurance advertisers--which explains why the Lam/Suen family was allegedly click-frauding not just WoW gold ads but also auto insurance ones.
A quick check of court records confirms that this is among the nerdiest scams ever.
21 comment(s)
Eric says:
Scam artists are inherently nerdy. It's their dedication that keeps them sharp.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:43AM
johnny5 says:
GOod Idea! HAHAHA
Check out the
Electronic Cigarette
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:46AM
Beltwayboy says:
Sounds like Ma Barker and her boys need to scoot over because there is a new posse in town!!!!!!!
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:54AM
Nestor says:
MS should offer them a job.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:54AM
tim says:
This article's use of official WOW cover art is misleading. Neither Blizzard nor any of it's associates were involved in the lawsuit or the fraud. So why associate them with the article? This is between MS and some Gold spammers. Reporters need to be more responsible with the associations they create in articles. Shame on you.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:59AM
rich says:
Why associate them with this article? WoWmine.com, perhaps?
GJ fanboy.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:12AM
Obla di says:
Well, how will MS convince the judge that something illegal has happened? The people were clicking ads. Is it forbidden to click ads? More than twice? I don't think so. In fact; MS should have implemented technology intercepting this kind of behaviour.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:15AM
Tom says:
To Obla Di - It's not illegal to click ads, except the people clicking were also advertisers using techniques that clearly violated agreements they made with MS when they signed up as advertisers. They also aren't being sued because its "illegal" they are being sued because they violated their agreement.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:21AM
jon says:
@Obla di, It is illegal to click ads more than twice when you agree to a contract. The kind of contract you are required to sign to use an ad service.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:23AM
Sean says:
I imagine the lawsuit is probably more about breach of contract or violating terms of use than clicking on ads.
I personally am a fan of google, but it's good to see that this isn't a half-hearted attempt at competition from Microsoft, they're actually trying to protect the value of their ads by going after click-fraud.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:25AM
walt says:
Gee, I would not have mentioned that url of theirs at all here. Scammers are losers. And, they might not yet fully understand it but, what goes around, COMES around. Trust me, one way or another, they will learn.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 10:49AM
Tee Skull says:
Well in order for Microsoft to sue them, they must have spent A LOT of competitors money. That is foul play and should be punished.
I, as well, think that clicking more that once on an adv (doing it continuously) most probably violates their terms and conditions, so for sure they have a case. For sure they also have the logs to prove it, or else they would sue anyway.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 11:39AM
Alan says:
Agree with Tim. You're reckless use of images is misleading.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 4:22PM
EJ says:
Down with misleading images!
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 8:07PM
joeuser says:
Microsoft and Google might be disinterested in deploying available technologies to track this kind of behavior and not charge for mis-click or fraudulent click.
Think about it they might go after the big fish, but what about the disgruntled worker (or anyone else) who clicks on a link a thousand times? You really think they are interested in that? Think about it they are making money, and it is low profile.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:24PM
Johnny says:
LOL
wowmine.com is down. maybe they'll try to pay ms in wow gold
Posted On: Wednesday, Jun. 17 2009 @ 9:57PM
Selaris says:
I will never use anything but Google, but...As an avid WoW player, I enjoy seeing gold farmers get theirs.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 9:39AM
sadik says:
Good job Microsoft!! Get those guys and teach them a lesson they'll never forget as long as they live. Scammers don't have a place in any business or in the society. I bet there are other scammers like WoWMine. I've read this wow gold selling review site and the author even has proofs of his encounters with such sites like WoWMine.com. It's pretty interesting specially the chat transcripts and facts that were obviously for real. You can check the letter here:
http://www.wowgoldfacts.com/2009/06/17/an-open-letter-to-googlecom%E2%80%99s-matt-cutts/
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 19 2009 @ 12:25AM
JITENDARSINGH RATHOD says:
thank you Microsoft excellent job
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 25 2009 @ 4:16AM
JITENDARSINGH RATHOD says:
thank you Microsoft excellent job
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 25 2009 @ 4:17AM
Electronic Cigarettes Lobbyist says:
Good. Sue the pants off of these guys. They are trying to manipulate the system, and it's costing people TONS of money. I wish Facebook and Google would follow suite. The average person has no idea how bad click fraud ruins your day. It's like Monday x 100
Josh
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 12 2009 @ 4:25PM