Let me tell you a story about karma and how I made $250 by reporting an Adsense cheater! It started when I came upon a web site where some kid was blatantly breaking the rules by asking his buddies to click on his Adsense ads. This has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves! Why do people think they can break the rules at the expense of other peoples' AdWords budgets? So I did what a lot of people do... I contacted Google! I figured Google would shut this punk down immediately. Boy was I wrong! Every time I went back to this kid's web site the message asking his friends to click the ads were still there! This went on for a few weeks and I really started to get ticked off at the lack of response on Google's part. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I used this software I created called "Google Sponsor Lister" (You can get it at AdsenseSchool.com) to find every sponsor who was targeting this kid's niche. I contacted each sponsor directly and told them there was a chance their ads were being displayed on a cheater's site. I figured if THEY complained to Google, something would happen! Well I guess I was right! One of the sponsors emailed me back two days later and said: "I want to thank you for pointing out the kids clicking on my ads. I turned it over to my Google rep, and he called today to let me know Google is disabling their account. Also, he said Google is crediting me a decent amount for fraudulent clicks over the last quarter. What's your address? I'd like to send you a little thank you gift." How awesome is that? I was so excited! Not because he was going to send me a "thank you gift"... but because I figured out how to get that punk shut down! It's funny how Google shut this kid down in TWO DAYS because a sponsor contacted them but when I had been trying for weeks, nothing happened. Makes you think... Anyway... I told him he didn't have to thank me and he definitely didn't need to send me a gift. I was just happy to know I saved him a couple bucks and this punk got his account canceled. He replied with the following... "Thanks again. I actually spend several hundred thousand dollars a month on Google, so at least they responded to me quickly. Also, the rebate they gave me was fairly substantial (several thousand). I'd really like to buy you an Amazon gift certificate or an iPod or something if you'd like to tell me how to send it to you, because I don't think I would have been proactive about this if you hadn't contacted me. Either way, it's great that you're being a good samaritan." SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS? I thought I saved him a couple bucks at most! I was floored when I read that because I knew Adsense cheaters hurt sponsors but I never thought it was that bad! So I told him if he REALLY wanted to send me an iPod or an Amazon gift certificate, I wouldn't stop him! ;-) He ended up sending me an Amazon.com gift certificate worth $250! Long story short... I am now a true believer in Karma! :-D I think this teaches us a couple important lessons... First, telling Google about Adsense cheaters is fruitless... but informing the sponsors, and asking them to contact Google, works immediately! And second, ripping off AdWords sponsors is big business. Don't think for a second it's a victimless crime! Oh and now I'm a true believer in Karma! Maybe you won't make $250... but at the very least you'll help get rid of another Adsense thief and save a business owner some money! |
