Massive click fraud ring detected and eliminated

The largest click fraud ring ever discovered has been detected and eliminated by Anchor Intelligence, according to reports out this week, saving advertisers millions of dollars.

by Helen Leggatt

DormRing1, so-called because it was centered in dorms at universities around China, was a multi-million dollar click fraud ring operating out of Singapore - until the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut them down.

Had the click fraud ring, which involved over 200,000 compromised IP addresses, continued to operate it could have cost advertisers millions of dollars over a 12 month period. In fact, Anchor Intelligence estimates that DormRing1 traffic was programmed to generate fraudulent clicks on the ads of almost 2,000 advertisers across multiple ad networks, every two weeks.

"We have seen 200 fraud rings," said Anchor Intelligence VP Richard Sim, "and this one by far trumps them all. I think it is indicative of how sophisticated the click fraud is getting. We are seeing the sheer scale and size of these rings growing."

What can advertisers to do protect themselves against click fraud? The most important aspect is to be vigilant. Watch for unusual trends in click volume vs. Internet traffic. For extra peace of mind, invest in anti-fraud software.

Tags: anti-fraud software, click fraud, fraud rings, Internet fraud, online advertising, online fraud, pay per click advertising