Have you heard about Adsense “click fraud”? It’s one of the latest Internet scams.

Here’s how it works:

You know those ubiquitous (and they’re everywhere!) “Ads by Google” which you see on what seems like a vast majority of the websites out there today? (Indeed, even here on the Net Patrol!) Once reserved for personal sites, blogs, newsletter sites, etc., Google AdSense ads are now like Chickenman - they’re everywhere! They’re everywhere! Even on the most mainstream and staid of sites.

Here’s how they work: advertisers participate in the other half of the system - Google Adwords. Put very simply, advertisers pay to have their ads show up on approriate sites, or with the results of an appropriate search - they show up as the Adsense ads - “Ads by Google”. The owners of the sites displaying the AdSense ads get paid a small token amount for each ad clicked by a visitor. The advertiser featured in the clicked-on ad pays some amount above the small token amount, and Google keeps the difference.

It’s been a very successful system.

But here’s where the scam comes in… [Continued…]