AceEngine

The problem with changing your IP address using software is simply the volume necessary to make it worth your while. Your ISP will have a number of IP blocks, and at the most simple level you can just type in “ipconfig - renew” into your windows box repeatedly until your ISP gives you a different dynamic IP address, then click, then do it again.


The problem is that this is very slow, very time consuming and since all the IP’s come from the same ISP, fairly easy to detect (what are the chances of only users from one C block clicking on one single ad group repeatedly? There is an easily detectable pattern there).


The 2nd tier PPC engines are not as good at this type of detection, so you will see it happen more on them.


To do it on a wide scale, you would have to have access to hundreds or thousands of compromised machines - compromised either via a virus or by paying people to use their home computers to click on ads. That’s usually what those “Get Paid To Surf The Web” ads you see in newspapers are all about - click fraud.


Google and Overture can detect this, too, though it’s harder. Often it’s the website owner that notices first - they usually have a good idea of what type of traffic they can expect, and easily notice sudden unusual click patterns.


In short, most click fraud is on a small scale - your competitor clicking on your ads, for example, or a very large scale (hundreds of compromised machines and custom software) - it’s pretty hard to get into, otherwise.


It’s also against the TOS of most ISP’s to do this - I haven’t seen a lot of action in this area, but I can foresee in the near future that people will be losing their internet connections over this. that should be fun, especially if a virus is doing it without your knowledge. I’m not very sympathetic to people who connect to the internet without updated virus and malware checkers, though: IMO its contributory negligence at the very least.


by: lan