Internet Outsider: Click-Fraud A Gathering Storm Yes perhaps a tired old story but one revisited by Wired and one worth keeping track of as fraud gets more sophisticated. Blodget predicts that if click fraud becomes a problem that it could push more advertising from online to back offline.
“Current glamor and excitement about online advertising replaced with fear, uncertainty and disgust–driving dollars back offline. If the search engines aren’t quick enough to grant discounts and refunds, or if enough advertisers conclude that even the clicks they pay for contain a significant percentage of fraud, the search business could experience the same backlash that crippled the email business back in 2000–a backlash from which it is only now recovering.”
