What is fraud in advertising?

Typically, the phenomenon of ad fraud has existed since the beginning of online advertising, but in recent years it has increased. Advertising fraud is done by creating fake ad traffic using content scraping websites or other environments.

Over a decade ago, the development of search engine marketing and the lack of maturity in the space created a perfect environment for click fraud. With the rise of programmatic buying and, specifically, the nature of blind inventory available through RTB exchanges, advertising fraud raised. The fragmented nature of RTB makes it easier to commit and conceal a fraud.

But how are ad fraudsters being able to steal this amount of money considering the sophistication of online advertising technology (AdTech)? The fake audience, fake users, fake traffic, fake clicks, and fake installs – it all boils down to the same goal: advertisers are made to pay for exposure and clicks that never took place.

Here are some types of online advertising frauds and how they work:

Ad-placement fraud

This kind of fraud is curated by disloyal publishers who want to increase their revenues by generating more ad traffic.

Malware and Adware

These techniques are done by taking control over the computer or browsers to generate revenues.

 Methbot

Advertisers are spending a lot of money on programmatic ad buying and losing more due to fraud. Methbot was very difficult to track, but it can be tracked now. Methbot operation was carried out by WhiteOps and it was very carefully planned. . It not only impersonated premium sites and fabricated their inventory, but also disguised itself as legitimate ISPs. After that, methbot produced fake, human-like traffic which opened the ads on these fake premium sites.

Mobile apps and Ad fraud

Mobile apps are becoming easy target for fraudsters. It is an easy and striking target for frauds.

Tools to prevent online advertising fraud:

1. IAS
IAS is famous for addressing ad fraud, ad viewabiltiy and brand risk issues. It is designed to protect ad frauds. They are awarded by the TAG certified against fraud seal. IAS is also accredited by MRC and SIVT detection for desktop and mobile traffic.

2. WhiteOps
WhiteOps provide protection to digital publishers and advertisers from ad fraud and likely threats. It is MRC accredited tool for SVT detection. They protect enterprises across the globe from bots attacks across advertising, marketing and cybersecurity.

3. Pixalate
Pixalate is designed to fight against more than 15 types of ad frauds. Pixalate is attributed by MRC for invalid traffic detection and filtration. They offer services across display, app and video platforms. Xapads uses all these three ad fraud tools to ensure zero fraud.