A class action lawsuit was filed by Lane's Gifts and Collectibles in Arkansas and Caulfield Investigations in Florida last February over click fraud. Both of these companies had claimed that they paid for ads that had no chance of generating sales. Google has agreed to pay $90 million to settle the click fraud lawsuit. Supposedly, any advertisers that believe that they have been victim of click fraud at any point in the past will be able to obtain advertising credits by applying. Under the agreement Google would dish out up to $90 million in reimbursement credits. At present, Google is unsure of how many actual applicants will apply.

It was said that Google did nothing to prevent any types of click fraud from happening; however Google does have a large team of engineers and analysts devoted to the problems of invalid clicks. Google also has a system in place where if you do believe that click fraud has happened, you have 60 days to notify Google.

Click Fraud happens when companies click on rival’s ads on Google to drive up their marketing costs. Another way that click fraud can happen is when web site owners who display other companies ads, use automated software to click on the ads to increase revenue themselves.