Google's Adworks advertising program might aid fraudsters in their attempts to commit fraud crimes against mobile phone subscribers.

This is a pending class action lawsuit against Google, Inc. The class action lawsuit seeks to hold Google responsible for certain types of "click fraud" when the fraudster uses Google's Adword advertising program when used by mobile phone users.

Google offers companies an advertising program it calls Adwords. Adwords is a short advertisement that Google will display when a user's Google search matches the selected keywords. Google has a Content Policy designed to exclude fraudulent advertisements using its Adwords program.

According to the class action complaint, mobile service subscription providers (MSSP) sell consumers content for their mobile phone including such products as ring tones, sports reports, stock tips and weather alerts. The class action lawsuit alleges that under agreements with cell phone service providers, these MSSP's transmit their service or product directly to the cell phone user and can bill that user's telephone bill simply by having the cell phone number. This unverified transaction has led to significant fraud.

The class action lawsuit further alleges that Google is liable for fraud that occurs when a user clicks on Google's Adwords advertisement that is linked to an allegedly fraudulent MSSP website.

Among other claims, the class action lawsuit alleges that Google violates or fails to enforce Google's own Content Policy.