In a twist on the peddling of fake news to real people, researchers say a Russian cyberforgery ring has created more than half a million fake internet users and 250,000 fake websites to trick advertisers into collectively paying as much as $5 million a day for video ads that are never watched. The fraud, which began in September and is still going on, represents a new level of sophistication among criminals who seek to profit by using bots -- computer programs that pretend to be people -- to cheat advertisers.
- Read the article: The New York Times
