White Ops on Thursday disclosed a vast, ongoing scheme in which fraudsters are charging advertising companies for ad space on smart TVs.

Most went live in September, and all share a similar code library meant to help avoid detection.

And now we know the group called itself "Metan," the Russian word for methane.

Maybe the only thing more complicated than the Methbot advertising fraud scheme was the plan that ultimately shut it all down.

Online ad fraud has become so profitable that malware creators and botnet masters are developing new programs and theft techniques in order to keep making a profit.

Emerging techniques involve over-the-top video distribution to taking advantage of mobile video.

Methbot generated the cash by fake clicks on premium advertising — as many as 300 million a day.