June 16th 2009 02:51 am
AN OMG POST: WGF READER YOMAMMA SHARES THE DIRT ON THE LAMS AND THEIR MAMA
WoW Gold Facts reader YoMamma left this comment on my I’m-back post just when I was about to hit the sack:
Dude,
Looks like your buddy Eric Lam got sued by Microsoft today.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoftpri0/2009342302_microsoft_files_a_click_fraud_lawsuit.html
Is this some sort of birthday present from your buddy Bill?
What the….
Now I’m wide awake!!!
Microsoft files its first click fraud lawsuit
Posted by Sharon Chan
Microsoft is suing two brothers and their mother in Vancouver, B.C., for $750,000 after the company said the three engaged in online ad fraud to boost traffic to their auto insurance and World of Warcraft Web sites.
According to a civil case Microsoft filed Monday in the Western District of the U.S. District Court, Eric Lam, his brother Gordon Lam and their mother Melanie Suen used click fraud to increase their rankings on Microsoft’s search engine Live Search.
Advertisers paid for placement on Microsoft’s former search engine Live Search, now known as Bing. When a user entered a search term such as "auto insurance," advertisers bid for sponsored placement in the results. Each time a user clicks on an advertiser’s link, the advertiser pays Microsoft. The cost per click ranges from five cents to hundreds of dollars depending on the desirability of the search term, according to court documents.
In click fraud, a person or computer program repeatedly clicks on a link without any interest in the Web site. It can be used to exhaust the ad budget of a competitor, and lower that site’s placement in the rankings of the search results.
According to the court documents, the Lams and their mother engaged in click fraud in spring 2008 for advertisers who paid for placement for the search terms "auto insurance" and "WoW," short for the online game World of Warcraft. The Lams’ Web site, WoWMine.com, sold game gold that could be traded in the online game.
I am trying to get in touch with the Lams to get their comments.
Update 6:35 p.m.: Gordon Lam declined to comment on the story by phone.
For once, I am speechless….
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3 Comments »
Cathryn Wheel on 16 Jun 2009 at 4:10 am #
Betcha feel so vindicated now, don’t you?
BloodyOgre on 16 Jun 2009 at 8:55 am #
It’s pay back time! What goes around, comes around - the law of Karma ^^
Littlebark on 16 Jun 2009 at 10:01 am #
Hahahahaha.
All that comes to mind right now is that letter someone from WoWmine sent you telling to Be Good or Else. Betcha they wish they had taken their own advice huh?