Hi Billy Bob:

You raise a good (and well-litigated) point around an illegal activity known as "Click Fraud." Click Fraud targets Pay Per Impression advertising, one of the advertising solutions that we offer at HiExpat.com.

From Wikipedia: "Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link."

Its not just advertising networks that can commit this type of fraud--as you note, the host website and sometimes even an advertiser's competitors undertake illegal activity to drive the costs up for an advertiser.

Rest assured, HiExpat.com has never and never will engage in fraudulent or illegal activity. We are well aware of this crime, and have taken steps to identify sources of advertising click thrus to ensure that your ad is generates real traffic. When we determine there is suspicious activity (for example, 100,000 clicks coming from one IP address), we work with you and local authorities to eliminate the source. Other ways to identify click fraud would be a high number of click thrus on your ad, with a very small number of results (again, 1,000,000 click thrus and 2 sales).

Another solution would be to try a different ad format, such as time-based advertising or Pay Per Action advertising. Our Ad Team is flexible to find an advertising solution that you are comfortable with, so please do not hesitate to contact us to let us know how we can work with you.

Regardless, at HiExpat we remain committed to bringing you fraud-free solutions and exposure to your Expat-based business. We look forward to working with you.

Thanks again for your interest in HiExpat.com!

HiExpat Partner Team