Philipp Lenssen reports and a trip to the Google AdWords blog confirms that emails are going out to AdWords advertisers to notify them of how to claim their portion of Google's settlement to the recent click fraud class action suit. The email links to the full Google click fraud settlement statement and features the subject line "Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account."

From the email:

Now that the preliminary settlement has been approved by the Court, all members of the class are being notified about the settlement. On May 19 and 20, 2006 (PST), a settlement administration firm sent an email notification (from clicksettlement@xmr3.com and with the subject 'Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account') to all advertisers who purchased online advertising from Google between January 1, 2002 and the present.

If you plan on taking part in the settlement, it's a good idea to closely watch your email for this message to come through since it could easily be mistaken for a phishing spam along the lines of a "check your PayPal account" or "you haven't paid for an ebay item" messages that are becoming so common. In fact, until I saw the email quoted on the AdWords blog, I was pretty convinced that it WAS a phishing attempt.

I would encourage any small business advertisers to read up on the suit and to consider their options before jumping on board with this settlement. The payout is substantially less than even the most conservative click fraud estimates and advertisers that take part in the settlement opt out of any future suits. That means that each business will need to weigh the benefits of an immediate payout with the risks of missing out on a more realistic payout down the road.