The
internet has become both a wonderful information tool as well as an
unstoppable source of fraud. One could likely spend a lifetime delving
into the unlimited ways the internet can be used to defraud the innocent
and unsuspecting. Even though the problem is too vast to easily be
corrected, I feel the need to address one type of fraud that impacts the
small business owner.
There are an unlimited number of advertising methods available on the
internet. And at the top of the heap of those profiting from this type
of advertising are the giants such as Google, Yahoo! as well as a swarm
of others with their promises of profitable “Pay-Per-Click” programs.
They even offer to pay “subcontractors” so to speak. For example, if
you have a website, Google AdSense offers to pay you a “per click” fee
for showing their advertiser’s links on your site.
Anyone can potentially throw up a website, falsely state the site
ownership or keep it anonymous and apply to Google AdSense to start
selling advertising to legitimate business owners. The legitimate
business paying for the “per click” ads would probably not even consider
advertising directly from the fraudulent website owner, but through
Google AdSense, the business owner thinks he/she is getting great
internet exposure and they have the click rates to show it. No product
or service needs to be sold for Google and the fraudulent website owner
to make money. Clicks are all that is needed to generate income.
The fraudulent website owner can plagiarize content from another
website, infringe on another company’s Trade Mark, Business Name and/or
logo and it will be a period of time before it’s discovered by the
unsuspecting business. In the meantime, the fraudulent website owner
can begin making inroads in the “organic” search engine listings.
Eventually the fraudulent website will show up right next to the
legitimate business’ website when a web surfer performs an internet
search using the legitimate business name. Because the fraudulent
website shows the identical business name and similar web content, the
web surfer may inadvertently click on the fraud website.
The fraud site says that the XYZ business link is “above”, when in fact
the unsuspecting web surfer is clicking on a competitor’s link. Who is
paying for this? The small business advertiser is paying a fee each
time the link is clicked. Google makes money and the fraudulent website
owner makes money. The advertiser is likely not going to make a sale
because the web surfer now realizes that he/she is not at the correct
site. If the website owner did make a sale it would be the same as
receiving stolen property. In any event, those footing the bill for
this type of fraud are the legitimate business owner whose copyrighted
website is plagiarized and whose Trade Mark/business name have been
hijacked and the advertiser who pays for every click, fraudulent or
real.
The legitimate business must put a stop to this practice, protect their
business name and copyrighted material which is an expensive and
time-consuming task. During their investigation and through their
efforts to stop this fraudulent practice, they click on the links to see
who is advertising on the fraud website. Remember, every click is paid
for by the advertiser without any product or service being sold! The
attorneys and/or arbiter’s are clicking on the links and the advertisers
are paying. Google AdSense replies that it cannot get involved with web
content disputes, but they are in essence receiving stolen property by
receiving financial gain from the fraudulent website! Google is just
too big to be bothered with checking on the integrity of the websites
that they sell advertising on. The unsuspecting small business
advertiser thought they were safe in paying Google for legitimate ads.
And to make matters even more frustrating to the web surfer, some of the
advertised links merely take the web surfer to another website whose
sole purpose is to sell more advertising to Google AdSense or another
advertiser, while the website owner once again offers no product or
services apart from the advertising. It seems there is no end to the
greed that is exposed on the internet and how the unsuspecting consumers
and business owners are manipulated into being a part of this never
ending scheme.
What can you do to avoid becoming a victim of this scam? First, know
what websites your advertisements will be shown on. If you cannot
control the location of your ads then don’t purchase the advertising.
Secondly, if you are a web surfer, you should realize that most business
domain names include the name of the business or some derivative of it.
If you do inadvertently click on a website that contains mostly
advertisements, look for contact information. A legitimate business
will most likely have a street address, phone and fax numbers as well as
an email address located on their site in such a manner that it’s easy
to find.
I hope you enjoyed the information in this article and I wish
you safe web surfing and advertising.
By: Susan D. Bowman, Realtor
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