Giant software company Microsoft sued three people who, it alleges, messed around with an online advertising service so they could make money.
The action, filed in a federal court in Seattle, names Gordon Lam, Eric Lam, Melanie Suen as the defendants in the case and alleges the three made over a quarter of a million dollars from the alleged scam.
Microsoft wants the court to make the three pay $750,000 more in damages for, it alleges, fraudulently clicking on adverts related to the World of Warcraft.
People who set up an account like Microsoft’s or Google’s Adsense rely on strangers clicking on the ads – and for each click they’re paid a micro amount. The more clicks you get, the more money you make. So Microsoft is alleging that these three set up an account with it and then somehow arranged for their adverts to be repeatedly clicked.
Microsoft alleges that it traced the source of the allegedly fraudulent clicks to these three people.
