The mobile advertising industry has exploded over the last decade thanks to the rise of mobile devices that are used to consume content at an unprecedented rate. However, with this growth has come the rise in fraudulent activities, and it’s becoming harder and harder to tell what’s real and what’s not. Learn more about mobile ad fraud in this post as we dive into everything you need to know about mobile ad fraud so you can protect yourself from these scams and make your ad campaigns safer and more effective.
The number of mobile users increases year after year. It was estimated to be 6.6 billion in 2022, making it a 4.9 % of annual increase. With the increase in mobile users, businesses have shifted to mobile advertising to gain more people’s attention. But, this increase in mobile usage attracts mobile ad fraudsters to earn quick money from conducting illicit activities.
To dive deeper into mobile ad fraud, we reached out to Faisal Abidi, Co-Founder of RNF Technologies, a company that provides online marketing, web/mobile app, and gaming app development services. We asked him to share his understanding of mobile ad scams along with ways by which one can prevent oneself from such online frauds. Let’s start with the common types of mobile ad fraud.
Common Mobile Ad Frauds, Highlighted By RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi
- Invalid Traffic
Invalid traffic (IVT) is the advertising impressions created by nonhuman activities like bots, spiders, or crawlers. Although invalid traffic is associated with ad fraud, it is not necessarily malicious.
Invalid traffic can be of two types, explains RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi. The two types are General IVT and sophisticated IVT.
General IVT is highly transparent about its nonhuman origin. An example of GIVT could be Google’s spiders that crawl the web to identify organic search rankings. SIVT is designed to appear human-like, often for illicit purposes.
- Click Spamming
Click spamming is another mobile ad scam in which networks disclose numerous fake clicks to receive credit for the last click before a conversion. For instance, the installation of an app. In order to take credit for the last click before a conversion, these scammers attempt to get paid for the fraudulent clicks. In reality, it seems like stealing an advertiser’s marketing budget. So without putting much effort, these scammers want to earn money in an unlawful manner.
- Click Injection
Click injection is a refined form of click-spamming where fraudsters publish or access an Android app that permits them to catch the installation of broadcasts. These fraudsters trigger clicks before the completion of installation to gain credit for the building. Fraudulent app installs from click injection are a significant problem for brands that run app install campaigns for user acquisition.
- Ad Stacking
In this ad fraud, multiple ads are displayed at once, one on top of another. It allows scam publishers to ask for payments for serving the ads, whereas, in reality, the ads were never visible. These frauds are incredibly problematic for campaigns that promote brand awareness, highlights RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi.
Various other frauds operate under a similar principle. For example, a fraudster’s attempt to take credit for the complete appearance of an ad when only a partial ad was visible. It also happens in video advertising ads where fraudsters claim that an entire video ad was watched. But, the reality is different from it.
- App Spoofing
Spoofing is a technique in which fraudsters misrepresent an ad from an unknown source as an ad from a source the advertiser trusts. Spoofing often takes place in channels that lack security, such as in-app.
If a brand’s quality control analysis uncovers device irregularities and all points back to the same mobile app, another easy fix is to blocklist the app itself. So what does a scammer do if they are trying to avoid having their app blocked? They make it appear like it’s not their app, stresses RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi.
By using app spoofing, a rogue app fakes or misrepresents the app information sent through the bid request. In addition to hiding app impressions, scammers can also use this tactic to pose as a high-value app.
- Background Ad Activity
This describes scenarios in which ads are displayed entirely out of view of genuine users. For instance, an ad appears in the background and is unseen by everyone instead of being shown to a real person. RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi underlines that in this way, the fraudster charges per view, even though no one actually sees the ad.
After discussing the most common types of mobile ad fraud, we asked RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi to share some quick tips on how to prevent oneself from such mobile ad scams.
Quick Tips By Faisal Abidi, RNF Technologies To Prevent Yourself From Mobile Ad Scams
- There is an increase in mobile ad fraud due to higher people’s engagement. One needs to be cautious when running their ads to avoid the above-discussed mobile ad frauds.
- As fraudsters look for ways to boost your ad impressions by illicit means, one needs to be aware of their usual ad response patterns. Then look for the change in click patterns if you find some abnormal increase in clicks but fewer conversions coming from a strange IP address. It would be best if you dug deeper.
- To fight these fraudsters, one needs to think like a fraudster. Yes, you need to be one step ahead to detect that there are scams involved in your ad campaigns. For this, what one can do is:
- Instead of falling for the clicks, refer to the conversions.
- Regularly track your ad performance.
- If something appears fishy, don’t hesitate to question it.
- Act with alertness, and don’t fall for fake promises.
It isn’t easy to track everything yourself. Instead, seek help from genuine people and agencies to help you run your campaigns smoothly. As mobile ads are in high demand and have high conversion rates, use them wisely. As if something appears to be a fraud to the buyers, you will lose a customer forever. To maintain your authenticity, you need to be cautious of what you’re planning and presenting before people. Keep updating yourself with the latest tools and strategies to keep yourself away from these growing ad scams, highlights Faisal Abidi, RNF Technologies.
