What is digital ad fraud?

Digital ad fraud exploits digital advertising systems to generate revenue illegitimately. Fraudsters use sophisticated malicious bots to manipulate online advertising metrics, which results in wasted ad spending and inaccurate performance data.

Fraudsters use deceptive methods like automated bots and fake websites to generate false interactions with ads, including fake ad views, clicks, and conversions. These automated bots can be sophisticated programs that mimic human behavior, making them difficult to detect. They generate traffic by repeatedly loading ad pages, inflating the number of impressions. Fake websites, often created to resemble legitimate ones, host ads that are never seen by real users. These fraudulent activities result in skewed performance metrics, falsely indicating that ads have reached thousands or millions of real users when they have not. Fraud detection systems are constantly evolving to identify patterns, such as unnatural click-through rates or unusual conversion paths, that may indicate ad fraud. However, the ongoing cat-and-mouse game with fraudsters means staying ahead is a continuous challenge.

Below are some of the most common forms of digital ad fraud:

• Click fraud. Generating fake clicks on ads using automated bots or humans
  Impression fraud. Displaying ads to nonhuman traffic (or bots) to inflate impressions
• Domain spoofing. Impersonating high-quality websites to charge higher rates
  Pixel stuffing. Placing small, nearly invisible ads on a website
• Ad stacking. Layering multiple ads on top of one another
• Cookie stuffing. Forcing cookies onto a user’s device to claim ad revenue
  Ad injection. Inserting ads into a webpage without the publisher’s consent

From wasting marketing budgets to distorting campaign performance metrics, digital ad fraud disrupts the activities of digital publishers at great cost. Fraudsters divert ad revenue at a soaring cost for legitimate publishers. Digital ad fraud also reduces the quality and trust of the online advertising ecosystem.

Online businesses can analyze traffic patterns and use AI to identify abnormal behavior and reduce inefficiencies and operating costs. The problem is that bots are incredibly sophisticated and skilled at mimicking real human behavior.  In addition to using fraud detection and third-party verification services, companies must also partner with trusted ad networks to ensure quality ad inventory.

HUMAN protects platforms from sophisticated bots using superior detection techniques, threat intelligence, and collective protection across the internet. HUMAN Ad Fraud Defense detects and defeats bot attacks and fraud with unmatched scale, speed, and precision, protecting existing revenue and keeping ad inventories clean from the start. HUMAN also provides unparalleled access to actionable insights that are used to ensure high-quality digital advertising that only real humans can interact with.

What is click fraud?

What is click fraud prevention?

What is click fraud protection software?

Solutions for ad platforms

Ad fraud sensor solution for ad platforms