One of the first rules of Adwords is to disable showing ads across the display network (this is enabled by default). You should only be showing ads on the search network (and only google.com at that, not the search partners).
Setup correctly, these types of scams aren't much of a problem with Adwords. FWIW, I've found Adwords to be very very effective, provided you know exactly what you're doing, and know how to adjust your campaign settings such that Google doesn't bleed unnecessary money from you.
Yes, I know that and I had always just used search ads. But I was dominating the SERPs for the terms I was interested in, so tried the display network as an experiment as an alternative to see how it would go.
>I've found Adwords to be very very effective, provided you know exactly what you're doing, and know how to adjust your campaign settings such that Google doesn't bleed unnecessary money from you.
I agree with you there, but you need to learn the ropes when someone else is paying the bills for your mistakes. A wrong setting has the ability to eat your spend very quickly. My point is that the display network is a cesspool of fraud, and I doubt I would touch it again.
Setup correctly, these types of scams aren't much of a problem with Adwords. FWIW, I've found Adwords to be very very effective, provided you know exactly what you're doing, and know how to adjust your campaign settings such that Google doesn't bleed unnecessary money from you.