A Texas jury last week ordered TriMax Media, a digital advertising agency specializing in search engine marketing, to pay one of its competitors $2.3 million for what jurors agreed was an elaborate click-fraud scam.
The lawsuit stemmed from actions taken by TriMax, after it lost a client to the competitor, a company called Wickfire. TriMax began bidding on search terms associated with Wickfire clients and clicking on those ads in search results, Wickfire alleged in a 2014 lawsuit, driving up clients’ search advertising costs. TriMax performed similar actions against 140 Wickfire clients, the lawsuit said.
Chet Hall, CEO and founder of Wickfire, told Ad Age that his clients became frustrated over the small returns they got from their ad spending, even though it seemed like potential customers were clicking on their ads. “People couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I had to spend months talking to them.”……..
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[…READ MORE AT: Original Article: adage.com]