Three Chinese workers have been arrested at a rented Thailand house for operating a huge click farm and working without a permit.
Motherboard reports the gigantic click farm in Thailand is latest to be caught.
https://twitter.com/lmatsakis/status/874352947752189952
The click farm had over 500 cell phones and 350,000 SIM cards. The setup also included nine computers and 21 SIM card readers.
According to the Bangkok Post, a Chinese company gave the men 150,000 baht ($4,403) along with the phones to pull off the operation for a month.
The men told the police they were operating to boost engagement for Chinese products sold in Thailand because of the low mobile phone fees.
They were generating “fake” page views, likes, and shares through the social media app WeChat.
Click farms are very adaptable.
Companies can use them for everything — from acquiring LinkedIn connections to huge Facebook likes to massive Twitter followers, and to generate web traffic. And they make millions doing so.
According to Mashable, the men are probably going to be deported back to China, rather than facing any time behind bars.
This is not the first click farm to be busted. Just last month, a massive click farm with over 10,000 phones was discovered in China. And in today’s online-driven world, it almost certainly won’t be the last.
Just remember where the online popularity might be coming from next time you’re checking out companies and products online.
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