Sunday, July 29, 2007

Banned from Google for Click Fraud

You may have noticed there are no more ads on this blog. That’s because my Google AdSense account was disabled yesterday for violating the terms of service:

Hello Casey Serin,

It has come to our attention that invalid clicks and/or impressions have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this was a necessary step to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.

A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks or impressions on any ad(s), including but not limited to clicks and/or impressions generated by:

- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason

These or any other such activities that violate Google AdSense Terms and Conditions and program polices may have led us to disable your account. The Terms and Conditions and program polices can be viewed at:

https://www.google.com/….terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/ads….icies?hl=en_US

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected advertisers.

If you feel that this decision was made in error, and can maintain in good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the actions or negligence of you or those you are responsible for, such as employees and family members, you may appeal the closing of your account. To do so, please contact us only through this form:

http://www.google.com/suppor….s_appeal&hl=en_US

If Google decides to evaluate your appeal, we will do our best to inform you quickly and will proceed with appropriate action as necessary. If we have reached a decision on your appeal, subsequent or duplicate appeals may not be considered.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Always Hesitant to “Monetize”

From the beginning I was hesitant to put ads on my site because I didn’t want people to think I’m just trying to “cash-in” on my experience (not that there is anything wrong with that).

This blog was started to tell an honest story for educational value. I am never against making profit, but it wasn’t the primary goal. I just wanted to share my story of what NOT to do in real estate.

Because I was so upfront about my experience, especially mortgage fraud, the blog has been very controversial from the start. I didn’t realize just how controversial until some exposure from housing bubble blogs and the flood of negative comments that followed.

A couple of my business associates also had a problem with me talking online and I even took it down for a few days to think this thing over.

Then in October the mainstream media hit. I started getting some major traffic. So I thought I will put up a little bit of advertising just to cover my hosting bill and other related expenses. As long as I didn’t over-do it I though there is nothing wrong with it.

So I started making some advertising money. This is the first time in my life that I have an audience and I’m “getting paid” to write. Pretty exciting. And I don’t even have to make anything up - simply write about my crazy life exactly as it happens.

However, there were a couple of times in the last 4 months that I was ready to pull the ads down because people started to accuse me of running a scam blog for money. But as soon as I decide to do that people would talk me out of it.
My Revenue

The figures are approximate numbers because my AdSense account login has been disabled and I can’t login to get the exact figures. Roughly I made the following:

September: $60 (received)

October: $850 (received)

November: $750 (lost)

December: $1,250 (partial month, lost)

Because of the delay in payments, I only got paid for September and October. I had at least $2,000 coming my way, plus whatever else I would earn during the rest of December.

It’s not that much money but it was definitely something to help me get through my tough financial crisis. I was counting on that money!

Also, as others have pointed out, I was greatly under-utilizing the traffic and the earning potential of the blog. I’m new to this so I was still learning. For example, when I made a simple change in ad placement, my CTR (Click Through Rate) went from around 0.4% to almost 0.8% in December. My traffic didn’t increase that much but my revenue doubled.

So because of the roughly 5,000 daily visitors I’ve been averaging, my blog could have been a real money maker if I sat down and monetized it correctly with Google AdSense, affiliate programs and other stuff.
Why I was banned…

1) Fraud clicks from my supporters…

I know that there are people here that were clicking my ads to help me out. That’s nice, but I never asked for it. When I found this out I told people to stop because I didn’t want to get banned. Besides, it’s not right. Most people don’t think it’s a big deal to defraud the advertisers by clicking the ads a few extra times.

But if you are the advertiser, how would you feel if somebody is gaming the system at your expense?

To my (few) supporters:

I know you had good intentions and thank you for trying to support me but you were going about it in a fraudulent way whether you knew it or not. (Just like me and liar loans.)

2) Fraud clicks from my “haters”…

Not all haters…err..critics on this blog want to harm me but some do. It’s apparent from the comments I receive (and screen out). So when they caught on to the fact that they can get me banned from Google AdSense with fraud clicks they went at it.

I can’t prove any of this… only from what I see in the comments and on other websites talking about me.

I guess, the “haters” had a problem with me making a little money from my popularity and my desire to tell an honest story. Is it jealousy? Anger? Vengeance? I don’t know. This blog attracts such a negative audience that I’m not surprised.

3) My Fault

Since I moderate every comment I had some control over the situation. I should not have been talking about advertising or Google AdSense at all on this blog. This way I would not have been giving the “enemies” ammunition to use against me.

Live and learn.
Now What?

I know I can appeal about this to Google but I’m not going to. Even if my appeal is successful and I get my account back what is going to stop the “haters” from doing this again?

Plus if I keep this blog commercial-free maybe people will stop occusing me of trolling.

I’m also tired of being compared to lonelygirl15. There are no movie producers or professional photographers here. Just me. I am not exaggerating anything. Everything I have said here is true!

I’m not sure about the future of this blog at this point. Blogging my story in detail takes a lot of time, especially with the huge number of comments that I have to moderate. And writing about fighting the fire takes time away from fighting the fire.

I’ve been justifying spending 2-3 hrs per day on this blog because at least it was producing a little bit of income. Now that I’ve been banned from Google for click fraud I can’t use that excuse anymore.

I want to continue telling me story but I don’t know how much time I can devote to it and still be taking care of my responsibilities. I kind of wish I had a capable writer/journalist/blogger to follow me around every day and cover my story in detail. Otherwise I may be so distracted with the blog that I will sabotage any chance of a come-back. Or maybe I need to just learn to be more efficient… I dunno.
Avoiding Stress = More Stress
Merry Christmas
97 Comments

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Josh
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:01 pm

Personally, I would spend far less time blogging. The negative vibes that your users put out will only serve to drag you down. Don’t get me wrong, this blog is a great read, but the people that comment don’t motivate you forward. All they do is ruin your outlook and keep you from pressing ahead.

Best of luck Casey!
Josh
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duh
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:02 pm

There are fifteen different ways from Sunday to get back on that ad gravy train.

- Get online with a different ad network. Yahoo Publisher Network, Valueclick Media, CrispAds, Blogads, etc. etc. etc.

- Restart Adsense with a different entity. (Have your wife register iamfacingforclosure2.com under her name, sign up for an adwords account under her name, make iamfacingforclosure.com auto redirect to iamfacingforclosure2…)

- Figure out who is buying the adsense click traffic for relevent keywords and strike up direct sponsorship deals.
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Wishful Thinker
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:02 pm

Is this in any way releated to your December goals?

Its December 22. How are they coming along?
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Hater
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:04 pm

pwned
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shadash
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:06 pm

You are so freaking lazy…

“I kind of wish I had a capable writer/journalist/blogger to follow me around every day and cover my story in detail.”
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frank francis
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:07 pm

Casey,

I’m really pleased to hear that you were banned from google and lost your money. You have such a sense of entitlement!

FF
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Don
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:09 pm

So don’t go AdSense: Go with a CPM banner solution. Even if you get $1-2 per 1,000 page views, x 5k per day = $150-300 to cover hosting. If you use this as a launchpad for speaking engagements, etc. it willl be worth your investment.

You can also get click per lead ads - mortgage leads and such which pay $10 per lead or more. Or sell ClickBank products here, or put Chikita ads on it. Then the hater’s can’t do anything about it.

I love the idea of you profiting off all the haters, personally. :-)
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beezer
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:16 pm

If you knew the clicks were fraudulent, as we all did, why were you counting on the money, Casey?

You’re a piece of work. You have the nerve to go on about why it’s wrong to just click out of good or evil intent (”how would you feel if you were the advertiser?”) and THEN whine you’re not getting the money from the advertisers who were defrauded? Nice.

What’d you spend on the movie, Casey?
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SH
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:19 pm

I’m not a fan of yours at all, but I couldn’t help but point out how ridiculous your thinking is that the only way you can make money off your site is by Google ads. Lots and lots of people, myself included, take the time to sell ads for their site on their own, and if your stats are correct you could make a good living doing so.

You could easily be making $1200-2500 selling ads independently and you’d be able to claim the income for taxes, etc. But this requires some things you don’t seem to have: Patience and follow-through.
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triple T
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:20 pm

Casey,

i just discovered your website in early December and i’m totally hooked on it. i now check it every hour or so waiting for your updates and new user comments to come in. it’s got to tell you, it’s a winner !!! if you take it down you will be making a huge mistake. it’s like Jerry Seinfeld pulling the plug on his show the 1st year. your site has alot of potential. PLEASE don’t stop blogging. i need my daily dose of Serin. i’ve already told at least 20 people i know about it.

don’t let the haters get you down. keep your chin up.

regarding Bo Bo:
he’s just pissed cuz he bought into the american brainwashing system called “college”. let’s face it, college is a scam. i dropped out of college and make more money than ALL of my friends who graduated. they still owe on college loans and will never be out of debt. college is for sheep who can’t figure out how to make their own money. had you bought your 8 homes 3 years ago, you’d be a millionaire. you only had bad timing.

and one more thing Casey, don’t get all bent up about lieing on the loan applications. EVERYBODY lies on those things. how else do you think people working for $30k a year are living in $500k homes. white collar crimes are a dime a dozen. even priests are lieing about it. i saw one of the local priests driving a $80k BMW last month.
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Anon4
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:21 pm

It’s ironic that haters deal with your mortgage fraud with a fraud of their own.

On a helpful note, most web hosts have affiliate programs that pay something like 50 a signup. You should look into that. I’d be curious to know your host and hosting plan because your site seems to be holding well the high traffic. Do you have a shared plan or your own server?
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HungryBear
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:27 pm

Why would you not appeal and try to work something out with google? You were almost up to $1,000 per month! That is not bad. If you can cut your expenses to the bone you get out of the rat race on that and not have to suffer the indignity of getting a McJob, while you try to find a better way to build wealth. I lived on $800/month cash flow for a while from an apartment complex I owned in the early 1990’s. I was happier being out of the rat race on a frugal budget than when I had a degrading corporate “cubicle” job paying almost 6 figures + living expenses. And the frugal budget was only temporary until I learned how to make real money in RE. You can live without Jamba Juice & Macaroni Grill - really.
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briguy
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:28 pm

Uh, what makes you think that any of that income from Google was legitimate? The “supporters” that were clicking the ads were the ones racking up your totals. Your 0.4% to 0.8% increase was likely because the ads were in the way and being accidently clicked (I contributed a few of those).
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crei-watcher
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:30 pm

You need to find someone else to moderate your comments or dump moderation.
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David
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:35 pm

Casey,

This blog is the best thing you got going right now. You should monetize it.

As an investor you should be looking at ROI. Ads on your site is ROI for your time spent on this blog.

- dto
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Casey Serin
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:36 pm

When I said “I was counting on the money” I didn’t mean “I’m counting on fraudulent money”. Because the thing is that I don’t know how many of those clicks were fraud clicks and how many were legit.

The silver lining is now I don’t have to worry about people defrauding the advertisers and I don’t have to worry about people thinking this is a troll blog.

That’s why for the moment I’m not going to look at other ad networks or affiliate programs or go to advertisers.

Although if an advertiser approaches me directly I believe in the product I will consider it.
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Honestly Wondering
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:42 pm

Congratulations, Casey. You just blew the last bit of credibility you had. We have now moved into endgame.

Loyal readers, as I mentioned several weeks back, we’re not going to get the end to this story. Casey’s an attention whore - as soon as the money stopped, and the attention died down, and things really started turning bad, he’d bail. That’s what a narcissist does.

A narcissist has no sense of reality or self, beyond the validation he or she gets from how other people see them. In the mind of a narcissist, it’s the perception that’s the problem. They tend to be manipulative, self-delusional, intensely self-centered liars who go through life mindlessly destroying people without a thought or a care, focusing instead on keeping a steady supply of validation going. It’s a psychological disorder, and a pretty ugly one.

This little party was going to last exactly as long as Casey could maintain pretenses, or barring that, at least as long as money was being made. As soon as that was over, the story was over.

That’s where we’re at now. It’s been fun.
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The Man
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:44 pm

I wonder about the future of AdSense. If an otherwise legitimate AdSense account can be taken down by a few people doing apparently fraudulent clicks unknown to the blogger who set up the site, any AdSense account can be taken down. It is trivial to write a script to iterate over a site and click every ad on it as many times as I wish. This is bad not only for people like Casey and other blog sites, but for Google because they never see their cut.

I wonder to some extent about the legality of pulling back 100% of the revenue of the past few months. Even assuming some percentage of the clicks were fraud, I think a reasonable person would say that there is no possibility that 100% of the clicks were fraud. Logic dictates that Google owes you some money (how much money is debatable). But then again, the contract may be legal and yet not be logical. Any case law yet on Google’s AdSense contact?

In any case, I am sorry to hear about this. When you said you got $60 for September, I figured you were getting 10 to 20 times that now because of the corresponding increase in traffic. I knew that was not going to save you, given your monthly nut, but I was actually happy to hear you had some income. For the record, I never clicked on your ads either as a supporter or a hater. None of the ads appealed to me. I did send you $20 to pull your credit report about a month ago (and you did).

I don’t know much about monetizing a blog. Wikipedia lists BidClix and Kanoodle as competitors to AdSense. Can you use these guys instead?
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The Man
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm

“That’s why for the moment I’m not going to look at other ad networks or affiliate programs or go to advertisers. ”

At the amounts indicated above, this blog is your best source of income. Unless you have some other income that you are not telling us about, you must monetize your blog. Doing otherwise is a disservice to yourself and your wife. Find a way to monitize it per impression rather than per click so that the fraud potential is less.
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LostCause
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm

This is an excellent blog, and advertizers are paying for eyeballs, not sure spawning sympathy clicks is banned from the list of creative marketing. At any rate, you have a duty to your creditors to get this money coming in. You have a large monthly nut to crack. You must take the time to appeal this.
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seek medical help!
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:08 pm

triple T: my favorite comment so far !!

“let’s face it, college is a scam. i dropped out of college and make more money than ALL of my friends who graduated. ”

few lines down: “even priests are lieing about it. i saw one of the local priests driving a $80k BMW last month.”

lol, sad thing is you don’t need to be slightly literate to “make money”
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David Kimball
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:16 pm

Don’t know to stop
Where is the top
Don’t pay too much
It’s such a rush…

Carol of the Flippers. Just in time for Christmas.

Keep the blog going, Casey, and find some way to make it work for you. No one blames Robert Downey Jr. for making money on his troubles, but there they are, all over the news, getting him into the spotlight, and thereby, making him more money. Celebrity is a weird thing.

Consider my story. I’m getting famous for being cheap, yet that cheapness is going to make me millions in the real estate game.

-dk
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Anon
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:17 pm

Yo Casey, I know you have been down and this wont really help your situation but you should tell this guy your story

http://www.myebid.com/cgi-bin/.....ingID=3065

he’s looking for losers to give away a PlayStation 3 too.
You will probably get one hands down, the only problem is I don’t think you can take it to prison with you.

Good Luck!
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Stephanie J.
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:17 pm

Have a decent holiday, Kiddo.

I hope you saved a couple of bucks to get your poor wife a pedicure or something–you should take the time you’re spending sharing this experience on the blog and dedicate it to your crumbling marriage instead. I think ultimately, she’s more worth the time and effort than this site is.

Her, and your problems of course.

Merry Christmas for what it’s worth.
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Supporter
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:30 pm

If the haters hate Casey so much, then why do they keep returning to this blog. Perhaps they have nothing better to do than criticizing others. How sad. This world is filled with some much freaking negativity. Don’t let these jokes get you down, Casey. We are all guilty of laziness, so why not turn that negative energy into optimism? Why not just show some support, or just leave this blog and never come back?
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sam
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:32 pm

Wow, it’s amazing how so many people will send hateful messages. You are extremely open with your ordeal, in a couple of years you will be one of those guys on late night TV telling your story….keep on fighting and writing, get with a publisher, after you get out of this hole of debt.

My story is similar (too much too fast) with persistance you will win, oh and get a good lawyer, and file bankrupcy ASAP. Lenders will be back lending you money in 24mo.

Don’t worry too much the US as a whole is in far more debt that you alone…..the whole country is built on debt. Find other means of advertising and find some angel sponsor that can pull you out, and get you a book deal. you will make millions

good luck
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Ozzie Tim
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:33 pm

G’Day Mates!

Ozzie Time Here. Good onya-Chrissie wishes to all!

There’s some godd oil in the few comments today. Glad that blowhard Tim isn’t here. He’s a figjam-er if ever there was. To my way of thinking the comments by duh and ROI are spot on mate. This site could be a gold mine compaerted to your flick it on scheme for property. If your hosting isn’t to exy, the earbashing is down right entertaining.

Even those who give a gobful are good to read. If you’re in it to make a quid, who cares? You could turn out to be cunning as a dunning on this one. Too bad they shut you down. Now it’s just a dingo’s breakfast till you’re up again.

Hooroo. Ozzie Tim
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TK
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:35 pm

Casey,

You said, “When I said ‘I was counting on the money’ I didn’t mean ‘I’m counting on fraudulent money’.”

Everything about this - from your google ads to any potential profit you may have made on any of your houses would have been fraudulently obtained money. This whole blog is based upon fraud.

In other words, every dollar you are currently counting on is fraudulent money. Just a little perspective for you.

Get a job dude. Nobody is going to let you profit from this particular forum.
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invest3
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:38 pm

“I guess, the “haters” had a problem with me making a little money from my popularity and my desire to tell an honest story. Is it jealousy? Anger? Vengeance? I don’t know. This blog attracts such a negative audience that I’m not surprised.”

Sort of like people having a problem with O.J. monetizing his story on how he bumped off his wife. He was just being honest.
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hyperlexic
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:39 pm

Once you get that email from GOOG, that’s pretty much it. I’ve heard of a few people getting their accounts reinstated, but most don’t. Google does this seemingly indiscriminately, and keeps the ad revenue. Publishers simply can’t stop people from clicking away at their ads. This is a HUGE problem in the PPC market. You can try another ad network, but really Adsense is the only one that makes the $$$.
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doitcasey
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm

I don’t think this is a troll blog, I think you and your supporters are asses. How’s it feel to expect money to be paid your way and then have it suddenly pulled out from under you? Ask your lenders if they felt that way…
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T
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:47 pm

You and your wife expect to be able to sleep in every morning while you collect fraudulent passive income from Adsense. The both of you need to get off your lazy butts and find jobs.

It’s quite obvious that the ONLY REASON you began blogging was to gain notoriety (you’re an attention whore) and to earn a passive income with this blog.

You’d probably get some tip jar assistance from the readers of your blog if you were truly sincere about paying back every dirty penny and doing the right thing. But your actions speak louder than your blog entries. You have entitlement issues and you’re allergic to integrity and hard work.

I don’t think you’ll ever change, Casey. You are some piece of work.
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T
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:48 pm

PS: I’m also sure you have no intention of reporting the Adsense revenue to the IRS for the basis of paying taxes on it cause you’re a snake.
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T
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:51 pm

Read it and weep:

The Sacramento Bee: “California home sellers face several more months of pain, leading housing economists said Thursday. But while they believe the current ‘correction’ will be shorter-lived than those that hammered home values during the early 1980s and 1990s, the three cautioned that residents of California, Florida and much of the Eastern Seaboard are likely to endure the most prolonged pain.”

“That’s because prices during the past five years reached levels in all those areas that became unaffordable to buyers and unsustainable for sales, they said.”

“‘I would just emphasize that all real estate is local and there will be markets in this country that will continue to experience some pain in 2007,’ said David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. ‘It may be a 2 percent drop, a 5 percent drop. Maybe it even gets to be an 8 percent drop in that area.’ Lereah said about 25 percent of the country falls into that category.”

“Local experts say that includes the Sacramento region, where year-over-year prices have fallen up to 14 percent in Placer County alone and 2006 sales of all homes and condos are running 14,000 behind the same time last year.”

“Sacramento-area sales prices are expected to keep falling, up to another 10 percent during 2007 before stabilizing, according to predictions last month by (broker) Mike Lyon. The chief culprit: excess inventory, with 12,652 homes on the market in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties, according to real estate researcher TrendGraphix.”
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HONEST?
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:58 pm

You are honest???? haa, sure,

Why are you in this mess? because you are a liar from the start.

I think you are in a lot of people’s black list. They do not want to do business with you or hire you because you are a very dishonest person.

People know about you from this site and they will try not do anything with you.

You fingure out the reasons.
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Rising Shiner
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm

Man, $1.2k month! That’s some serious money bro. You’re almost tied with the schmo who has to work the drive-thru only he’s one of those idiots who still thinks he has to work for a living.

Thank goodness you found a way out of all that. Seen the light through your Kiyosaki workshops. I’m sure Mr. Kiyosaki gave you a juicy cut of the proceeds. You did get a cut for letting him use you as a tool for one of his “workshops” right? Or are you keeping true to the whole “university” thing and turning down riches for the sake of academic purity?

Today my cut of my website’s earnings was over $2,000. Of course it involves delivering actual products and that requires hiring lots of people who are obviously the kind that are stupid enough to work for a living.

We’re just a bunch of idiots really, delivering physical goods instead of higher echelon stuff like sweet deals and flipping used POS Land Rovers like that PRBizditz chick in Arizona. Oh sure we’re making more money than you guys but we’re still stuck doing useful stuff in exchange for our daily bread. Unlike you geniuses that have figured out the whole “passive income” thing. I hear that one dollar of passive income where you mooched off of others is worth about four hundred real dollars at the current exchange rate. So that makes you a millionaire in Mr. Kiyosaki’s book.

Now saner minds would maybe try to repackage your homes to some industrious illegal Mexicans. They work hard for money too and can’t actually buy a home. And it’s not like you don’t have them over a barrel if they stop paying you. Ummm…. hello INS… I have Mexican squatters on my property.

Not the glamorous dream you once had. But enough to pay off your bass ackwards upside down mortgages for awhile. That is if you were stupid enough to work for a living and do useful stuff. Which obviously you’re beyond doing so carry on Ser Casey!
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triple T
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:05 pm

just do away with moderation. that’s what’s taking all your time up. or have someone do it for you.
we do look forward to YOUR comments within the replies. we can’t wait to see what you say next. you’re a hero to some of us. you tok a risk and alot of these haters don’t have the balls or skills to take those risks. like i said before, the only thing you did wrong was enter the market late and that’s all.

this is a great website with alot of revenue potential.
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nooneofconsequence
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm

Casey- shut it down. Walk away. You want to compare yourself to Chris Gardner? Then you have to be single minded and focus. You have to hustle. The negativity from this blog has harmed you, and probably cost you, in addition to your own bad decisions. If you want to be successful- focus on that with action to back it up. Spending hours each day at a site called Iamfacingforclosure has got have worked against you, in your heart and in your head. Walk away. You’ve been waiting for someone to save you. It’s time to save yourself.
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Dan Riba
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:23 pm

Click fraud and blog bizness and all that mean nothing right now.

Casey, your position is similar to that of someone who has lost it and killed someone, and the body is in the trunk of your car. You have panicked. You think you might hide the body and escape prosecution, but unless you’re very careful or very lucky, you will be apprehended. Your actions have become more furtive, even less focused. You’re running around in circles like a trapped rat. Your options are shrinking by the second.

If I was Casey, I would do this:

Mail the keys for every property to the banks now.

Get a list of your debts together.

See an attorney about bankruptcy as soon as possible, if you can find a free or very cheap one. You have no hope of getting a qualified, expensive attorney. Maybe you can find a publicity-hungry attorney, or some kind of legal-aid deal. File the necessary crap as soon as possible. Borrow the filing fees from family.

Hope like crazy that you slip through the cracks of criminal enforcement. If you are charged (likely because of your notoriety), you get a free, low-quality criminal attorney. That’s probably the best you can do for defense, given your poverty.

Unless you can make bail, it’s likely you’ll be held for a while before a trial if you’re prosecuted. It is unfortunate you are so slight and pretty. However, it might possibly be years before criminal action is brought.

Wait for the shee-hit to hit the fan and be ready to take what comes. You can do nothing else at this point.

Party!
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A REAL HONEST AND FOR TRUTHFUL HATER
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:27 pm

What outrageous slander. Who at Google could possibly believe our innocent (if a little naive) Casey could be involved in promoting fraud. Fie. I would message Google saying your loyal readers can assure them that Casey is as innocent as the driven snow, and making money from doing something fraudulent would be the furthest thing from Casey Serin’s mind.
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Unbelievable
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:35 pm

Ca$ey sez

“Because the thing is that I don’t know how many of those clicks were fraud clicks and how many were legit”

Ahem

I would venture to guess that 99.9 % were fraud clicks
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Don't worry about
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:39 pm

Casey, sorry to hear that the ad revenue isn’t going to continue to flow for you. But I do like the cleaner look a lot. Don’t get yourself worked up over anything like click fraud. Everyone that advertises on the web is fully aware of it and considers it a price of doing business. School is getting out for the end of the year and I’m turning off my ppc ads because historically all I get is crazy kids clicking.
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Lame!
December 22nd, 2006 at 3:47 pm

Casey you really come across as a whiner on this site.

The money you had coming to you on google was obviously fraudulant and you have no right to complain about not receiving it. For the past two months you have had “fans” trying to help you by giving extra clicks. You should have been more forceful about telling people not to click the ads just to help you out.

Just get a banner ad and be done with it. I dont think anyone has issues with you making some money on this site. Just own up to it.

And please remember to pay taxes on the ad revenue! I could just see you in debt for a million and finally getting arrested not on your mortgage fraud but your failure to pay taxes on your blog money.
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yneone
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:07 pm

Casey, if you do not make another dollar from this Blog, take the Bea-tch down! I mean that. This is just sickening. Some people actually have benefited from the great advice given at this blog…you are the host and moderator..you deserve every bit of the $$ that you received. How can you keep this Blog functioning without revenue? Do not spend any of your own money (which you obviously do not have) on this blog. Shut the Bea-tch down first! Damn Cowards.

P.S.-Tim from Monterey, are you an Analyst? Luv ur post.
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Success_Laws
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm

Oh well, add this to the long list of other frauds you’ve already committed. Oh, by the way, I found a comment in this post that probably should be rewritten:

You wrote:

“But if you are the advertiser, how would you feel if somebody is gaming the system at your expense?”

It should read:

“But if you are the MORTGAGE LENDER, how would you feel if somebody is LYING ON THEIR LOAN APPLICATION at your expense?”

Why is it that fraud only concerns you when YOUR wallet is affected but it’s ok to rip of OTHER people whenever it suits you? You are the biggest hypocrite I have ever seen.
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Squideye
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm

Fraud seems to be a word oftem associated with you.
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Concerned Citizen
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:28 pm

2 reactions:

1. As I suspected you weren’t being totally honest when you posted only Sep=$60. Trying to hide the truth from us - no suprise.

2. I was astounded when you let all the “click crazy” posts get through. Poor judgement on your part - no suprise.
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Robert Coté
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm

Always Hesitant to “Monetize”

Ummm. Except for the Prblinkbiz and the acceptance of tit-for-tat deals and the offer of exposure for BK advise and….

From the beginning I was hesitant to put ads on my site because I didn’t want people to think I’m just trying to “cash-in” on my experience (not that there is anything wrong with that).

We’ll just pass on the California laws that prohibit profitting from illgeal activities and address “what people think.” Please don’t treat us like idiots. We aren’t the idiots here. I’d be surprised if you could come up with a believable story that didn’t include profit motive. Can you point to a documented action in the last DECADE that didn’t include a profit motive?

This blog was started to tell an honest story for educational value.

No. You can’t even hide behind motive on this one. You won’t let verified data pass through the replies. I do and the difference is amazing. You think you are protecting Chris and Mrs. Iamfacingforeclosure and mom and dad. Dun wurk no more. This is the new age. No more hiding. Sorry. Seriously, sorry. It saddens me that even ones indiscretions may be considered sins.

I am never against making profit, but it wasn’t the primary goal.

Think back. The only profit you ever made was when you weren’t trying. Everytime you tried you failed.

I just wanted to share my story of what NOT to do in real estate.

Congratulations Mr. Serin. You succeeded! If this was your intent you are done and well done at that. We will miss your posts. Any posts after this are but repudiation of your own claims.
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BT98
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:24 pm

Casey,

I feel sorry for you. I want you to know I did not click those adsense irresponsively. I visited 2-3 sites once and spend 5-10 minutes on those sites.

Any how, adsense should come up with a formular to filter out those invalid clicks and just don’t pay them, rather than ban your account completely.

Here is another idea, just sell the real estate (pixel size) on your website. Put certain size pixels ad for sale. The ad people won’t pay clicks but will pay for size of the ads monthly. That way there is no fraud clicks to worry about.

You can of course also promote other forclosure homes on your website, listing price say $50 a month for just a link, no picture. Just a thought.

You’ve got a good asset which is your blog. Don’t let it go to waste. Jesus would want you to utilize all your talents. Remeber the parable about three servants each was given 5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent. The sevant with 1 talent berry it and later return the 1 talent to his Master, and the Master said you lazy and wicked servant. Pay attention to the word Lazy and Wicked. Lazy is because he did not use his talent, Wicked is because he doesn’t admit his own fault, but rather blame on the Master for being too harsh and find invalid excuse for his laziness.

Very interesting story. Many people have many different interpretations. But I think God want us to work hard and utilize all our talents and enjoy the fruits of our labor. That’s my simple minded interpretantion. You can borrow it if you wish.

Good luck and wish you and yours a Merry Christmas

BT
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Kiley
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:45 pm

“- Restart Adsense with a different entity. (Have your wife register iamfacingforclosure2.com under her name, sign up for an adwords account under her name, make iamfacingforclosure.com auto redirect to iamfacingforclosure2…)”

And what if Google is monitoring this site?

No wonder you picked the name, duh.
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akula
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:56 pm

i feel hesitant to even post (since you will have to moderate this) but man, at 2-3 hours per day for blogging, what are you putting into everything else? i know (from my own, meandering experience) that 2-3 hours spent “working” on something else translates to 4-5 hours of total time wasted since there is a huge amount of time lost getting started, organized, etc. its time to cut back. i am pulling for you, but your story will be empty if you don’t pull out of the death spiral. a lot of people think that you have passed the event horizon, and with every minute you spend on here, you inch closer. there will be a point of no return (possibly the moment you took on multiple flips under sketch loans) after which bankruptcy, divorce and incarceration are mere ineventualities. STOP BLOGGING, please, for your own good. take it from me, i have been addicted to gaming, i am addicted to reading news and blog posts. these things have led to lower grades and lost opportunity. if your blog has taught me anything, it is that wise use of time is key to success, and for that, casey serin, i am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to you. seriously, i am not a hater. your story could be inspiration, should be a warning and is a message to everyone but the few. tip jar time.
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Law Vibe
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:56 pm

Check out AdBrite Casey.

You can set up flat rate ads. This way no matter how many times sometimes clicks that ad, it doesn’t defraud the advertiser at all because they pay a flat rate for a certain period of time (a month for example). They look somewhat similar to AdSense so you can just replace the AdSense code in your blog with AdBrite ads and you’re set.
“Text ads are a simple and efficient way to monetize your site. They load quickly and they’re easy to customize to the right size and appearance. AdBrite ads work well with or as a complement to other ad solutions. Also, with AdBrite’s innovative “Your Ad Here” link, you can sell ads directly to your users through a dedicated page on the AdBrite marketplace. AdBrite will allow you to approve or reject any ad purchased for your site.”
“Flat rate ads are paid at your defined price”.
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Hi...I'm Dolph DeRoos
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:59 pm

Casey, I am not a “hater” just a critic of your approach to things.

A Hater means I would be jealous of you in some way. What’s there to be jealous of? I don’t envy you whatsoever, so basically the people who “hate” on you (your words) are really your enemies and/or mean people.

I don’t hate or hate on you….I just point out the facts.
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Hi...I'm Dolph DeRoos
December 22nd, 2006 at 6:04 pm

Uhhh can we put a moritorium on the words “haters” and anything with “Sweet” in it?

Sorry guys, people aren’t HATERS, that would imply jealousy. Look it up (or I will):

“One who either verbally and/or physically inhibits another individual’s game or mode of operation primarily due to jealousy, envy, animosity, bitterness, resentment, and contempt. A hater will exibit either one or all of the aformentioned traits. A hater will usually smile in your face and hate behind your back.”

Sorry guys…another word Casey misuses because he thinks he knows it all.

Does that make me a hater? Nah, just somebody tired of Casey’s excuses.
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Underwear Model
December 22nd, 2006 at 6:41 pm

I second doitcasey’s comment completely.

Also, next time, don’t publish the comments that said “I clicked a few ads to get you some income.” It’s kind of hard to prove the clicks weren’t fraud when you allow those comments to post.

By the way, I never clicked any ads. I’m not a supporter or a hater. I’ve learned a lot from this blog. I’ll get your book at the Library.
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Ethical Realtor in DC
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:11 pm

Ditto re. your sad assumption that we are haters when we are simply ethical people who are amazed at your gall in committing fraud and seeming so unperturbed about it. I don’t hate you, I’m sure not jealous of you and I do think you are a rather sad, gullible little guy who will be a sucker for the “self help” industry for years to come. You have a rather amusing view of those of us who make our millions the old fashioned way (yes, millions, yes, real jobs with real estate investment on the side). It’s amusing you and your Kool Aid gang think people like me (semi retired at 42 - but have a real degree and held a job until all real estate was spinning off mucho cash) are the losers. You’ll be cleaning my yard while I sit by the pool and sip cocktails (the guy cleaning my pool will be a little taller and buffer than you, hence yoru bankishment to lawn maintenance).

While I would enjoy seeing you get what’s coming to you, it’s not hating, it’s justice. I pay the bills for fraudsters like you because the losses you are creating for the banks get passed on to the honest borrowers who told the truth on their loans. If I had a choice between convicting someone who clicked an ad on a fraudsters tie 50 times or convicting someone who lied on 8 loans to build $2.2m in debt he can’t pay back, I know who deserves the jail cell most.
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Underwear Model
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:56 pm

Try Yahoo,

http://publisher.yahoo.com/sel.....x376pi1ai2

Google won’t reinstate you
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Comrade
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:08 pm

All you dumb ****’s ruined it for Casey. You may think its funny, or he may even deserve it, but he doesn’t and it isn’t funny. I think who ever reported him and abused the ads just go get him busted should go hang themselves.

Casey, try Chitika ads, they work great for my site.
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Advice from a Looser that loost.
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:46 pm

Some more basic advice:

First: Stop calling 9-5er’s losers. They are your core market for your properties. Your core market does not like to be called losers.

Second: Rent out your properties and give that money to the banks. This is a “good faith” gesture and will at least slow down the enevitable. Trust me on this one. I run a small business, and there are ALWAYS customers overdue. Always. The ones that say “real sorry, I’ll get you a check soon” and don’t, have to deal with ugly realities like lawers and cut off credit lines. The ones that at least send me SOMETHING, ANYTHING, well, they keep the sharks at bay. If you play your cards right, you can probably hold onto the properties for a couple of years, maybe even long enough to flip them for a profit. Which leads us to…

#3 PROFIT IS NOT PROFIT. Got that? I am going to say that again. PROFIT IS NOT PROFIT. I’ve never been to an RE seminar, so I can’t say for sure, but with my experience with MLM people, I am confident that these gurus didn’t mention anything about the difference between Gross Profit and Net Profit. At this point, if you have even followed some of Tim and Cote’s advice, you’d see that you are upsidedown. Underwater. Backwards. You cannot make a profit right now. You have to sell at 4-5x what you’ve bought for to make a profit. Taxes, penalties, closing costs (you’re kidding yourself if you think you won’t be paying closing costs) will all eat into any $$$ you could possibly hope to make. Right now, at least.

Let’s look at your situation to explain the concept better. You, Casey Serin, are the busisness entity. You sold your condo for a profit. The $30,000 “profit” you made was a GROSS profit. This gross profit was paid to you, Casey Serin. But what was your TRUE, or NET profit? Did you factor in your intrest payments? How much did you pay out in interest while you owned the condo? What about the improvements you made while there? What did they cost? That eats into your gross profit, too. Starting to see the point here?

Last point: “Good Faith” This does tie in with #2, but there is more to it. Your blog and your letters to you lenders are not good faith. If we are to believe what you’ve told the readers (and frankly, why should we?), you have done nothing in good faith. The blog is lip service. The hardship letters are lip service. If your wifes situation is as you say it is, you again have not acted in good faith. How about the IRS? Are you ready for that? ‘06 is over, and you have 1099’s that are going to be sent out, copies for you, copies for Uncle Sam. Do you have $$$ in the bank to pay your taxes? Again, that is not acting in good faith…

You are so worried about the “haters”, and being a like RK, that you can’t see the forest for the trees. What do you think will happen if you get an IT gig, and deliver some pizzas? What, RK gonna call you a loser? What do you think he’ll think of you if go to jail? If you can’t BK because of fraud? Who cares? I’ll be willing to bet that if you followed the advice of many of the posters here, you could put up a post: “Wednesdays, I’m a Sandwich Artist!” and you would find all kinds of support. Sputnik might even stop pooping in your shoes.
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FuturesTrader
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:58 pm

I hate you and I like you at the same time, Casey. However, the part I liked about you was the AdSense revenue. The part I didn’t like was the real estate.

My thoughts on the Google matter are that maybe it isn’t so much the fraudulent clicks so much as the instantaneous burst of clicks that your site got due to the media. I think you should reconsider and talk to Google and make the case that your burst clicks are due to a unique situation involving severe media coverage and antagonistic practices on the part of your users. You are providing a legitimate advertising service (perhaps the only legitimate service you’ve ever been a part of) and you deserve money from that.
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Sam(fedup)
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:26 pm

What goes around comes around, I think Casey finally got what was coming to him.
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doitcasey
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:36 pm

yneone (whineyone?) said
“Casey, if you do not make another dollar from this Blog, take the Bea-tch down! I mean that. This is just sickening. Some people actually have benefited from the great advice given at this blog…you are the host and moderator..you deserve every bit of the $$ that you received”

Yeah Casey do what she says…start charging 1 dollar from readers to read your comments and posts and watch your web site traffic go down to 5-10 people a month..that would be yneone and the other few supporters that you have. By the way, I wish I could tell you that I fraudulently clicked all those adsense ads and then went on to write google about your little band of peabrains that were clicking like crazy on the ads…but alas..it wasn’t me,or was it…I dunno
Was it wrong for me to get you in trouble with google? If it was, I will pay you back every single dirty penny that you lost!

I’d rather pay a dollar a month to watch grass grow.
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Aaron
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:07 am

One word for you - FAILURE. you yourself said this happens sometimes to entrepreneurs. admit it, admit your fraud to the authorities, attempt to BK(I doubt you can since it was FRAUD) and hope and pray you can avoid the bighouse.

PS. I use the word entrepreneur above sarcastically….b/c you are far from the it.
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Zeus
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:18 am

This is getting boring. Casey if you want to keep traffic up I’d suggest you answer comments more. For me the fun part about this blog is the comments and your reaction to them. If you want to keep it exiting you’ve got to respond more. Not that you have to answer everyone’s questions just say something. I feel bad for you. Your troubles make everyone happy and that sucks, although you did bring it on yourself. This blog seems to be the best thing that you have going right now you’ve got to capitalize on that. Good luck and merry Christmas.
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Cara
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:20 am

Yneone, honestly. Quit throwing yourself at Casey, Nigel, Tim et al. It’s beyond pathetic. It’s sad enough to see behavior like that in real life, but on a blog…I have no words. I’m embarrassed for you.
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Don't Remove The Blog
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:53 am

Casey -

Over the past three months this blog has provided great entertainment. Some it resulting in your poor decision making skills, lack of common sense, etc.

A HUGE part of the entertainment has resulted from the frustration of those who have contributed with replies since the beginning who find themselves banging their heads against the wall with sound advice what you continue to ignore.

The comic value comes from Sputnik, Homey, and the Trailer Park Boys.

Don’t take the blog down - keep us informed of your progress - it seems you are now beginning to understand the depth of the s@it hole you’ve dug - we want to see how you crawl out. Post twice a day - once with a topic of whatever it is going on - then again when you are an “early riser” to show us you have maintained your promise.

In the meantime, I’m single, 43 years old and overweight…. and could use a date. Perhaps I could buy some “ad space” on your blog??
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Sometimes, you just can’t look away. » Casey Serin Arrested?
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:04 am

Kramer auto Pingback[…] He wasn’t arrested, but he did get banned from Google AdSense for click fraud. That is awesome. […]
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Absolutely Amazing Attitude
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 am

“I kind of wish I had a capable writer/journalist/blogger to follow me around every day and cover my story in detail.”

Wow - what a narcissistic comment! You are SO SO self-centered.

NEWS FLASH - your story isn’t that important or interesting, and is getting less so each day.
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jt
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:43 pm

@triple T . You are wrong. Had Casey started this in 2002 at the age of 20. His deluded hubris would’ve taken him to 12.2 million instead of 2.2 million and he’d be more phucked then ever.
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Online Casinos
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:50 pm

links from Technorationline foreclosure houston listing california foreclosure free listing … employment estate foreclosure house house money real self … buy down foreclosure hattiesburg money no buy foreclosure home lender … Banned from Google for Click Fraud You may have noticed there are no more ads on this blog. … me talking online and I even took it down for a few days to think this thing over. … I guess, the haters had a problem with me making a little
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Lostsite
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:59 pm

from triple T:
“he’s just pissed cuz he bought into the american brainwashing system called “college”. let’s face it, college is a scam. i dropped out of college and make more money than ALL of my friends who graduated. they still owe on college loans and will never be out of debt. college is for sheep who can’t figure out how to make their own money.”

Truer words were never spoken. I have been an advocate against this whole college education and the values of what it teaches. Fact is 50% of the richest people in the world have no college. What this means is that it is your personality and drive of what you do that defines you not a piece of paper.

As far as the haters go you should just keep moving and not give them much merit. Would you give a serial rapist merit on the witness stand in a rape case? A serial killer in a murder trial? Would you leave a thief alone with money or valuables to steal? If your answer is no then why would you give the time of day to the people who thrive on your failures when you know not one of them would have even small amount of the guts you have. These are people that have nothing better to do because their lives are usually in shambles. Put these people who want to see you fail on the pay no mind list and move on. Keep your blog going for as long as possible. Sooner or later with persistence something may turn for you and it maybe this blog that helps push you in that right direction.
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jt
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:21 pm

Hang in there Casey.

Keep falsely claiming to wanting to not blog anymore and rid yourself of all the haters traffic.

All the haters are either:

1. in the same boat as you and are screwed like you.

2. or are bitter renters stuck in that paradigm and is jealous they didn’t get in the game.
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Turn Your Self In
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:44 pm

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa hahahahahha.

So the immigrant guy who FRAUDED the banks got a little back.

Get a job you lazy ass and stop blogging.

And TURN yourself into the FBI for the FRAUD you comitted.
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Dman
December 24th, 2006 at 10:42 am

Well this is one of those times that I do actually feel bad for you. Regardless of why you set this site up, be it for ad revenue or for education, that isn’t the point. Outside your control people abused the google ad system, either in misguided support or with the purpose of getting you banned, and got you cut off from it. Sorry that happened to you and for you losing out on that money.

You ought to just sell some banner space and place adds at the top, you’ll make less money probably and have to spend some time managing it. But at least it’s something.
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I Am Not Facing Foreclosure
December 24th, 2006 at 11:59 am

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I have given a few Christmas presents to Casey at my site.
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Hard Money Lender
December 24th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

There are a couple of things to do that will reap most of the personal value from a diary.

1. Continue to write your story so that you have the history. It will also help you think out the evolving situation.

2. Do not post to a blog so that you are not feeding those who want to be negative.

3. Consider using a mailing list or just publishing the info some months later is people are interested in learning from your experiences.

4. Try to grow the audience but set a standard for readership. Those who are too immature to benefit need to be screened out.

While you might have made mistakes there is no reason to continue to subject yourself to abuse. If some people want to ruin the opportunity for others to learn from your experience then take away their platform. Keeping positive includes screening out those who are unable to be honest and supportive.

John Corey
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m
December 24th, 2006 at 2:04 pm

Google will most likely not reinstate you as they have detected click fraud and some stupid people here openly talked about how they clicked on your ads. Personally, I would not even consider advertising on this site. All I can get in my e-mail box would be stupid comments from people that tell me that I am an idiot advertising here.

I have never seen any blog with so many negative responses. Your story is true reality of mortgage market and you are openly talking about it. In most cases if something like this happens people like to be critical.

Here are my suggestions: Stop this blog or consider writing once or twice per week. You will eliminate most people that have nothing else to do, just complain.

Create a different site and use it as income producing web-site. You have the skills.

More you blog, more negative responses you get.
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Josh
December 24th, 2006 at 2:40 pm

I knew Google would do that to you sooner or later, I don’t think you violated the terms, they’re just jealous you made money
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Gaming Your Credit
December 24th, 2006 at 4:48 pm

The only time I saw a single ad on this blog was when I purposely used Safari just to see the ads. Firefox + Adblock = no ads, anywhere, anytime. I know I’m not the only one.
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The Learning Curve by Muckdog: More Last Minute Blogging
December 24th, 2006 at 8:32 pm

Kramer auto Pingback[…] Casey Serin of I Am Facing Foreclosure is Banned From Google for Click Fraud. Kick a man when he’s down; it’s the American way! Seriously, I’m still wondering how that Google click-revenue model works. Who is doing the clicking? Anyways, good column up there on click fraud and all. […]
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Jorge Costanzas
December 24th, 2006 at 11:57 pm

Don’t waste so much time moderating. Just set up a filter to take out anything that mentions your address, wife’s name, curse words, phone numbers, repeat posts, click through rates, etc.

Then let the comments go through.

P.S. I clicked a few times, but I thought I was helping you, since I saw comments from people saying they clicked a few times to help out. I figured since you let it go through your moderation, it must be true.
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Paul Francis
December 25th, 2006 at 1:00 am

Hello Casey,

I’ve been casually following your blog for the past couple of months and what happened to you is pretty much what we warned our investors a couple of years ago. One… the media hype of how much money was being made by ordinary people in real estate fueled your desire to score the home run. With the amount of foreclosures hitting record numbers this year, you are by far not the only one facing foreclosure or in your case…. foreclosures.

Just wondering…. did you use real estate agents to buy some of those crappy looking properties? What did they tell you that made you want to buy them? Did they provide you with CMA’s? Did they say the appreciation rate would continue at 10%+?? I must say that what you bought and where is bizzare to say the least. What were you thinking when you bought them? You went through all of these investment classes…. did they not teach you something about what makes real estate desirable to begin with?
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Nigel Swaby
December 25th, 2006 at 10:46 am

Casey,

Mr. Hard Money Lender has some good ideas. You should definitely send out your “what’s happening during this process” posts via a subscriber based newsletter. You can monetize the newsletter through Google ads. Definitely contact them and explain your situation.

Since you’ve got so many visitors to this site, you should also sell ads yourself using a CPM model. That way your advertisers pay for views, not clicks.

I have a third idea for you as well, but I’ll send a personal message via email for that.

Take care,

Nigel
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Webomatica
December 25th, 2006 at 4:08 pm

Dang… that’s harsh news. Wouldn’t it have been better to find out about that *after* the holidays.

Good luck…
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investorblogger
December 26th, 2006 at 9:05 am

Well, I’d suggest that you try and approach Google with some kind of explanation as to how the clicks occurred, and how you will (actively) stop fraudulent clicks in future. I had a similar problem over fraudulent impressions, and kept them in the loop the whole time. Seems to work. Adsense like to know that publishers are working WITH them, not AGAINST them. So endeavor to keep googl’es clients happy, and you’ll find that they will work with you.
Also, go with text-link-ads and some of the other non-click, non-impression based ad systems out there. text link ads are particularly good for a website like yours.
In fact, I’d suggest that you not rely solely on adsense (however, tempting it may be) for income on this blog. Try cj.com, as well, and try to have a diverse set of income. That will keep Google at bay, and give you some leverage with them, too.
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Tom
December 26th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

Sadly you’re options are limited and it seems you have accepted the loss of your money. If you really do think you’ve been hijacked I recommend you appeal. There are unscrupulous people who play ‘AdSense bowling’ and deliberately set out to sabotage their opponent’s source of AdSense income - sad, but true. Good luck with finding an AdSense alternative.
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Chad Okere
December 26th, 2006 at 2:30 pm

Just use yahoo ads.
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trekr
December 26th, 2006 at 3:18 pm

Casey

Please keep up the blog. Don’t let the haters get you down. Find a way to monetize the obvious web dev skills that you possess.

I’ve read a couple of good comments on this post. You should definitely take the advice.

Your blog is really educational and I think it is fantastic

Do something with all the attention you attract. Remember there is no such thing as bad publicity. Use It
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Tim from Monterey Bay Area
December 26th, 2006 at 6:17 pm

There’ve been a bunch of loose (er, “lose”) claims here that Casey’s ads were clicked “fraudulently.”

Last time I checked, there is no requirement that those who click must do so with some intention of buying the crap or the real estate classes or whatever in the ads.

What Casey quoted from the AdSense letter was about things that were soley under his own control, such as modifying the ads, or encouraging his readers to click the ads many times, that sort of thing.

Casey did none of those things, that I can see. (And I’ve been a reader here since early October.)

What no doubt happened is that readers here decided to have some fun with the ads. I admit I clicked on a bunch of the ads just to see what kind of crap seminars and crap services were being offered….I had no intention of buying any of the services or products.

Nor did I commit “fraud” by clicking, anymore so than I am committing fraud by calling an 800 number just out of curiousity, or flipping through a magazine and looking at the ads but not buying their products.

(Imagine this ludicrous scene: “John Jones is accused of buying a copy of “Sports Illustrated” and commiting “advertising fraud” by flipping through the ads but not actually being serious about responding to them.”)

Now the real issue is not one of fraud by either Casey or Casey’s readers, but the issue of pricing “ad impressions” or “click throughs.” This is an issue for the click industry and the advertisers, not for Casey, or for us.

Anybody with half a brain (which admittedly may rule out many here….:-) ) can see that most of us are reading this blog to read about the Great Train Wreck, and whether it can be avoided, not to get real information on the “Wonderful Deals Offered by Countrywide!”

This is a Google/AdSense/specific advertiser issue, not any kind of fraud by Casey. And certainly not fraud by any of us for doing what we signed no contract requiring us not to do.

To wit, Casey had some dumb Casey-type ads at the top of his blog. A lot of us clicked on them. No crime in doing that. Even on clicking on them many times. No law against doing that, at least not in a free country, where only specific laws and/or contracts are at issue.

It’s the fools who think that someone ought to get paid $800 because he has a popular site and a lot of people click on the dumb ads on his site that are really to blame.

Should Casey be paid for the tens of thousands of “train wreck clicks”? Probably not. But not because he committed fraud.

And the stopping of payment should be effective at the time AdSense removed the ads, not a month or two retroactively. It was their stupidity, not fraud by Casey.

–Tim from Monterey
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Tim from Monterey Bay Area
December 26th, 2006 at 6:42 pm

“You should definitely send out your “what’s happening during this process” posts via a subscriber based newsletter. You can monetize the newsletter through Google ads.”

Sorry, Nige, but I doubt this will fly at all. If Casey were to go to a subscriber-based newsletter, even one with minimal cost, he would likely lose 98% of the readership here. If you mean some completely free newsletter, how is this different from the present blog? If you are implying that AdSense/Google would reinstate him because suddenly the clicks from readers would somehow be more “valid,” this is dubious. (Basically, essentially nobody is going to shop for a mortgage by reading Casey’s blog, or subscriber newsletter.)

As a personal data point, I have a fair amount of money. Not a brag, just a point to consider. And my first ARPANET account was in 1973. My heavy involvement on Usenet and e-mail started around 1988, when private user accounts became feasible (through companies like Portal).

And in these past 18 years of heavy Net use, with the last 12 been in the modern browser era, I have NEVER, repeat NEVER, paid money for any newsletter, Web site, or other subscription service. Not even for porn sites, despite some temptation to subscribe to one or two!

Basically, anything worth getting is available for free. In one form or another. With some searching. In fact, the same basic information is widely available from multiple “fire hoses.”

I have a brokerage account with a “top shelf” broker (Morgan Stanley). I get a bunch of garbage from them, giving economic forecasts, predictions, advice, etc.

And it doesn’t matter. Most of it is one guy’s opinion, and is just part of a very large mosaic of freely available analysis, news, product announcements, technology summaries, etc. My serious money has been made from my own careful analysis of technology, not from Morgan Stanley’s newsletter, not from Robert Kiyosaki’s newsletter, and certainly not from a possible Casey Serin newsletter.

I wouldn’t pay a buck a month for Casey’s newsletter…the possibility of credit card fraud (not accusing Casey, just citing usual online payment issues) would swamp out even this minimal cost.

And even if Casey were to make a newsletter free, most people idly dropping by this site would simply never bother to sign up.

Also, a newsletter would likely slow down the feedback loop for comments even further. (Right now it’s on the verge of being not worth even bothering with, with most comments, like this one, responding to something said many hours ago, and with Casey not likely to approve it for release for anywhere from a few hours to a day from now, depending on his “work with Chris” or “wife won’t allow me” or seminar schedules or whatever.)

So, if Casey goes the newsletter route, I’ll count on either not hearing the outcome until the newspapers report it…or reading what the other bubble blogs say is happening. (While they can’t just forward on his newsletter, they cannot be blocked from reporting the general sense of what they’ve learned….)

Casey’s best bet is to keep the interest up and the readership up, if his goal is to somehow get a book deal out of this. Right now, it looks like interest has peaked and is starting to wane.

The multiple day periods with no new material is killig the blog…

–Tim from Monterey
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Absolutely Amazing Attitude
December 27th, 2006 at 5:52 am

Tim: I could easily argue that Casey, having consciously approved the posting in his moderated forum of other people’s posts that actively encouraged ad clicking, constitutes negligence per Googles phrase

” … maintain in good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the actions or negligence of you … “
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Nigel Swaby
December 27th, 2006 at 9:49 am

Tim,

What I meant by the newsletter was for it to be free, but subscription based. I figured it would eliminate many of the “haters” because I feel they’re too lazy to sign up. The other safety net it would bring is a lack of anonymity.

It’s real interesting how the feedback changes when people can’t freely criticize. When Casey did his radio interview with Jerome, there were no haters that called in. Sure people had questions, but nobody out and out called Casey an idiot when surely they had the opportunity to. It wasn’t so easy to do so when talking to a real live person.

When Casey did his three videolog entries, people’s attitudes also changed a bit. Look at the comments on those pages. Now that Casey became more “real” to them, people started being nicer.

That’s why I suggested the subscription model because people would have to give their name and email address, even if it is a “fake” hotmail address. I just felt it would scrub the “hate” a little bit and provide better value for Casey’s advertisers.

Nigel
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guster
December 27th, 2006 at 12:05 pm

Please do continue with the blog and find a way to monetize it with banner ads or affiliate links. I never thought you could be accused of click fraud unless you actually clicked on the ads repeatedly (or got others to do so). I think you should appeal the decision and understand more specifically what sort of violation occured. Maybe it originated from a reader’s comment about clicking an ad to help you out, or something like that, which you could control in the future by deleting those posts.

I did click on the occasional ad to see what was being advertised, but never more than once. Hey, that’s what advertising is all about - to get someone to take a closer look at what you’re peddling.

So I’d learn more details about Google’s decision, if I were you. If you did nothing wrong, do everything you can to remain in their program.
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We're Not "Haters"
December 27th, 2006 at 12:51 pm

Nigel - if the newsletter eliminates most of the “haters”, it would eliminate most of his audience.

“Haters” (and we are not that) constitute 80-90% of the traffic here. And a better term than “hater” is “disgusted”.
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Tim from Monterey Bay Area
December 27th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

“Tim, What I meant by the newsletter was for it to be free, but subscription based. I figured it would eliminate many of the “haters” because I feel they’re too lazy to sign up. The other safety net it would bring is a lack of anonymity.”

First, this is actually what I thought you meant. (I gave my analysis of what a _paid_ subscription might mean just to make the point, in case anyone or Casey were considering it seriously. Namely, it would likely drop #subscribers to 5 or fewer.)

Second, Casey already requests an e-mail address. I give my long-time-used e-mail address, not a Hotmail or Yahoo address. Casey can easily check by sending an e-mail…I’ve not received one, so apparently he either isn’t checking or is otherwise satisfied.)

Third, I’m not convinced that _any_ kind of formal subscription system gets around the pseudonym issue. After all, there is no “true name” system in the U.S., save for certain legal documents. Who’s to say that you’re Nigel Swaby, except you? Certainly in computer forms this is problematic. (Something I have dealt with for about 20 years, in terms of the cryptography implications. Suffice it to say I care only that you are the “Nigel Swaby” I have sort of come to know from this blog, not whether you are “really” (whatever that may mean) Nigel Swaby.

By the way, even Casey himself was not born Casey Serin.

Fourth, the only reason I don’t use my alleged true name is because, mainly, there is no need to make my words here easily googleable. And there is no reason to invite others to Google my name and then sidetrack the blog discussion with extraneous opinions about my own other opinions. (I have a 19-year history on Usenet, and so on….many strong opinions on controversial topics….)

Fifth, I only added the “from Monterey Bay Area” because when another “Tim” appeared and there was some obvious namespace collision. Anyone is free, absent better but unacceptably cumbersome digital signature technology, to post with my longer name, but this would then be deliberate on their part, not just an accident namespace collision. (Screen names only need to be long enough, or rare enough, to stop accidental collisions. Your name is obviously long enough, but just “Tim” is not, nor is “Angry Realtor” or similar names.)

Sixth, and sort of a personal note, I read this blog because it’s like looking at a traffic accident by the side of the road and not being able to look away. A point others have made, too. When I though the blog had gone away, after the latest Phoenix trip, I was both relieved and bothered. I even resorted to Google to find out if anyone else had heard what was happening…..turns out it was just a mild interruption.

I expect that if Casey stops posting, or goes to a subscription model, or whatever, that I’ll check with Google every week or so just to see how the foreclosures have unfolded, how the court cases are going, which minimum security federal penitentiary he has been ordered to report to (he should try to wrangle a deal to get into Lompoc!), that sort of thing.

Lastly, I agree with your other points about insults vs. helpfulness. Mostly I’ve stayed away from simple insults, simple statements that Casey is a liar and a fraud. I’ve tried to be analytical (which is admittedly easier when the two million dollars in debts and $30-40K per month burn rate is not my own).

Ironically, in a well-known psychological way, the more Casey _responds to_ what I say (e.g., “he has a good point, I need to…”), the more likely I am to continue trying to give an analysis. And not because I expect to get recognition–I’m not giving my ordinary name, so this isn’t the motive for my comments. I’m also not in the real estate or seminar or “life coach” business, so no motive there, either.

Casey moderates the comments, but interacts remarkably little. He might find more “helpful” comments, a la the above point, if he actually took what people are saying and responded directly, whether in agreement or in dispute.

–Tim from Monterey Bay Area
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SmartChickwithadegreeortwo
December 28th, 2006 at 2:54 pm

To all those on this site who feel that college is a waste of time, formal education is never wasted. A lot more happens in those four years than just going to class. College teaches you how much you truly do NOT know. Graduate school teaches you how to THINK. Two things Casey could really use.

Casey there is SO much you are not getting. This form of education is the hardest and the most expensive Ive ever seen. Your thinking is off track and your priorities and values are out of whack. There has been some discussion about you being a narcissist. You have serious issues with your ego, no one can tell you anything and you remind me of someone selling Amway. Illusions of grandeur. I am not sure what will happen to you and that is why I am tuned in to see where you end up.
Has anyone told you to get a job? Seriously? Get a job! You need to make money anything to show the banks you are doing something legit to help yourself. The more I write the more I get, well, DISGUSTED! The poster previously mentioned your haters are not haters they are disgusted. They are also interested in what you are going to do because you are lazy and will not listen to reason.
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ki
January 1st, 2007 at 10:40 pm

I really dont understand the haters on this website. I assume they come here to attack you to feel better about themselves. As far as the ads. Their might have been some fake clicks. I assume the people that come here to attack you to feel better about themselves dont want you to do succeed at anything including the blog. If you did it would ruin the whole coming here to feel better about themselves.

But alot of your clicks were probably real. Your site gets some pretty heavy traffic. You could sell ads using a service like www text-link-ads com. From my understanding they are not based on clicks but pay a set amount per month.

As far as profitting off the blog I dont see anything wrong with it. I have made some money at real estate and feel fine that I profitted from that success. I started a blog about another topic. It didnt do well and have therefore not profited from it.

Your real estate investing did not turn out so well but your blog has been very successful. There is no reason you should not profit from this blog.

I would also write G and explain the situation that some people have intentionally tried to get you baned. Say that you have no desire to make money from the illegal clicks. But it seems G should be able to seperate the illegal vs real clicks by looking at ips.

You can also point G to some of the press you have recieved and alexa to show that many of the clicks you are getting are valid.

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