What is click fraud and how does it happen?

Click fraud is the practice of illegitimately clicking on a text ad in a search engine such as Google, in order to force the advertiser to pay for the click. Some companies who perpetrate this fraudulent activity employ low-cost workers from Asian countries to click on text links and other advertisements. Other companies use internet robots that are programmed to click on links that are listed in search queries and results. Yet another form of pay per click fraud takes place when companies click on their competitors' ads with the intention of depleting their marketing budgets and skewing their search results. All of these forms of fraud can cost online advertisers a lot of money.