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The Most Defrauded and Exposed: Ad Fraud and Brand Safety Risks for BFSI Brands in MENA

Ad Traffic Validation, Guide /

Of the $114 billion projected to be lost to ad fraud globally in 2025, financial services bear a disproportionate burden. In the GCC alone, the sector carries an invalid traffic rate of 11.34%, the second highest of any industry. And that’s a conservative estimate. For most industries, that’s an efficiency problem. For BFSI, it’s a threat to the integrity of financial decision-making. A fraudulent lead isn’t just wasted spend; it’s a corrupted data point that can skew risk models, influence credit decisions, and trigger compliance exposure.  In MENA, the risk compounds further. Digital ads spend is scaling faster than measurement and transparency standards, making it easier for fraud to go undetected and harder for brands to trust their own numbers.  The question isn’t whether ad fraud exists in your campaigns. It’s whether your growth is built on verified performance or inflated figures.  This guide covers:  Ad fraud in branding and performance marketing: How it infiltrates your funnel The impact of ad fraud on BFSI campaigns: Why the stakes are higher here than anywhere else Why full-funnel protection is no longer optional in 2026 Ad Fraud in Branding and Performance Marketing: How It Infiltrates Your Funnel  Brands believing that ad fraud can be controlled with the surface level checks are still stuck in the loop of myths that are standing on the face of their branding and performance campaigns. As soon as these myths exists, the campaign performance will keep on suffering the most and the real threat will skip every single time. So, to keep your marketing efforts intact, the first thing to do is to bust the myths and face the reality –  Myth 1 – Walled Gardens Automatically Deliver Clean Traffic  What marketers believe: Closed ecosystems mean better fraud control. Platform signals handle quality checks, so traffic is assumed to be safer even with limited transparency.  What actually happens: Traffic quality is largely reported by the platform itself. Invalid traffic often blends into aggregated data, and limited visibility makes fraud harder to detect early.  The graph above has visit counts on y-axis and 7 days dates on x-axis. The visit counts from 13/12/2020 to 16/12/2020 reached to 600+. This also symbols identical hourly patterns (28-30 visits every hour), indicating that bot traffic has entered in your campaigns.  What this can lead to: This can lead to invalid or bot traffic going unnoticed, inflating clicks and engagement metrics. As a result, marketers may make decisions based on misleading performance data and end up spending budgets on low-quality traffic. Myth 2 – Pmax Guarantees Performance And Brand-Safe Placements  What marketers believe: PMax is a powerful, automated campaign type that finds the best placements across Google’s inventory while maintaining performance and brand safety.  What actually happens: PMax operates like a black box. Marketers have limited visibility into:  Which placements are driving real clicks  The actual sources of leads (Search, Display, YouTube, etc.)  How much traffic comes from brand searches you already own  What this can lead to: Cheaper clicks, heavy reliance on brand queries, and returning users you may have acquired anyway. It can also pollute remarketing audiences. This can also give a false idea of strong ROAS but when dived deeper, traffic could be recycled or of low-quality.  Myth 3 – Premium Publishers Mean Lower Fraud  What marketers believe: Higher CPMs and premium inventory mean better filtering and more genuine users.  What actually happens: With advanced bots and AI-driven traffic, fraudulent activity can closely mimic real user behavior even on premium sites. High CPMs don’t always guarantee high-quality traffic.  What this can lead to: Apart from monetary losses including wasted marketing budgets, it also builds a false confidence in “premium” inventories.   Myth 4 – Bots Are Easy To Detect  What marketers believe: Fraud or invalid traffic shows clear, abnormal patterns in the funnel, making it easy to identify and filter out.  What actually happens: Sophisticated bots are designed to ditch the advanced solutions with complex behavioral patterns including clicking ads and even moving through parts of the funnel.  What this can lead to: Inflated clicks and engagement metrics and optimization of wrong channels that give an illusion of “fine campaign performance.”  Myth 5 – High Time On Site Means High User Intent  What marketers believe: Longer sessions indicate stronger interest. More time on the website is often treated as a clear signal of user quality and intent.  What actually happens: Session duration alone doesn’t always reflect genuine engagement. Automated scripts or passive browsing can artificially increase time on site.  What this can lead to: Overestimation of user interest and engagement. This also makes segregation between genuine user and bot traffic, harder than ever.  Myth 6 – If I Pay For Verified Leads, My Campaign Is Safe  What marketers believe: Verified leads mean clean leads. OTP verification is often seen as enough to confirm authenticity and quality.  What actually happens: Lead verification only confirms that a form was submitted, it doesn’t guarantee genuine user intent or relevance.  What this can lead to: Punched Leads – Lead forms are filled forcefully using repeated or irrelevant data to quickly meet targets.  In this graph, we can see lead punching where lead concentration rises abnormally during specific hours of the day.  Fake Leads – Entirely fabricated data is filled in lead forms that includes false, non-existent, or stolen information.  Non-prioritized Leads – Low-quality or irrelevant leads that do not match the brand’s target audience or intent.  Myth 7 – Paying For Down-The-Funnel Events Eliminates Fraud  What marketers believe: Fraud usually happens at the install stage. Once users complete actions after install, those signals are considered genuine.  What actually happens: Post-install events can also be manipulated. Fraudsters can fake events or mimic user activity like fake signups to make traffic look high quality. This type of fraud is also triggered by incentivized users who are paid to perform soft KPIs  What this can lead to: Fake users completing scripted actions to look genuine and lower ROAS despite strong numbers.  Myth 8 – Brand

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Quick Commerce

Ecommerce Analytics: How MENA Quick Commerce Brands Can Win On Digital Shelf

Guide, Digital Commerce Intelligence /

Ramadan reshapes daily life in the MENA region, and quick commerce brands feel the impact instantly.  It is a period of cultural reset – daily routines change, eating schedules shift, social gatherings become more frequent than usual, and everyone plans their days around Iftar and late-night meals. This further changes how people shop, especially on ecommerce platforms. They expect deliveries in minutes, not hours or days.   But speed is not the only thing that matters at this time. During Ramadan, quick commerce platforms become a necessity. Consumers rely on these platforms to solve real, time-sensitive problems such as a forgotten ingredient just before Iftar, get-together needs at home, or a last-minute need that cannot wait until the next day.  In these moments, shoppers mostly buy the first product they see. This is where the pressure of being visible and available at the right time starts to build.   The demand is high, and the margin for error is very low. So, the real question is – how do you ensure that your brands bags in those last-minute sales?  This is where winning or losing the Ramadan sales opportunity actually happens — on the digital shelf, in real time.   And that’s exactly what this guide is about:  How Ramadan reshapes quick commerce shopping behaviour  Operational challenges for brands across pricing, availability, visibility, and shelf performance  What it truly takes to win on the digital shelf  A practical Ramadan-to-Eid execution roadmap  How mFilterIt’s ecommerce analytics tool enables real-time monitoring and action  A case study on improving platform presence for a global F&B brand in MENA  Consumer Behaviour Trends During Ramadan for Brands in MENA Success during Ramadan is more about how shoppers experience your digital shelf in moments of urgency. Therefore, it is important for quick commerce brands to understand these behavioral shifts to stay visible on the digital shelf.  1. Many shoppers install and engage with apps before Ramadan begins App install and engagement data consistently show a lift in acquisition activity in the weeks leading up to Ramadan as consumers prepare for the month; these pre-season cohorts often convert to higher LTV than users acquired mid-Ramadan. That makes early, targeted user acquisition and retention work a high-leverage play.  2. Consumers shop in short, high-intent bursts During Ramadan, consumers don’t open apps to browse endlessly and discover new brands. They come with a clear purpose and specific immediate needs. These shopping sessions are short, decisive, and highly concentrated around certain hours of the day. Post-iftar and late-night windows see sharp spikes in traffic, but they also come with heightened expectations.   Shoppers want to find what they need quickly and confirm availability instantly. Any delay in discovery or confusion on the product page increases the likelihood of abandonment.  For quick commerce brands, this means the digital shelf must perform at its best during these narrow windows. Visibility during off-peak hours matters far less than being present and easy to choose when intent is highest.  3. Already familiar brands feel safer During Ramadan or mid-Ramadan, shoppers are generally less inclined to experiment with new brands or unfamiliar products, especially when purchasing food, beverages, or essentials tied to family meals and hosting. On quick commerce platforms, this translates into a stronger pull toward brands that shoppers already recognize and trust.   Listings that feel unfamiliar, poorly presented, or inconsistent are more likely to be skipped, even if the price is attractive. This means ecommerce brands need to pay extra attention to maintaining a strong, consistent presence on the digital shelf 4. Trust signals matter to drive conversions Industry studies show delivery performance and up-to-date reviews strongly influence purchase intent. In the Ramadan context, a product that appears slightly more expensive but clearly available, well-rated, and deliverable within the required timeframe often wins over a cheaper option that feels uncertain, because shoppers optimize for certainty. Brands should surface these signals prominently on the product card. They act as shortcuts in decision-making, helping consumers choose quickly without second-guessing.  5. Late-night shopping windows take the lead Ramadan turns nights into the busiest commerce window. Multiple regional analyses show a spike in app sessions and orders after iftar and through the late night (roughly 8 pm – 3 am), with particularly sharp activity around the hour after iftar and the pre-suhoor window. If your dark-store coverage or push-timing isn’t aligned to these hours, you risk missing the moment.  6. Category mix shifts – groceries, gifting and wellness surge Quick commerce demands extend beyond groceries during this time. While essentials like food ingredients and beverages continue to drive volume, there is a noticeable rise in gifting, wellness, and hosting-related purchases.   Consumers look for convenient solutions such as curated iftar bundles, premium food items, desserts, dates, beverages, and personal care or wellness products linked to self-care routines during the month. This shift also fuels impulse buying, especially when bundles or ready-to-order packs are easily discoverable on the platform.   For quick commerce brands, this means assortment planning cannot focus on staples alone. Pairing high-frequency essentials with gifting-friendly and occasion-led SKUs helps capture incremental demand that peaks throughout Ramadan, not just at mealtimes.  Operational Challenges Quick Commerce Brands Face During Ramadan  As demand compresses into narrow windows and consumer expectations rise, even small operational gaps surface quickly. Here are some of the operational challenges quick commerce brands face to stay relevant on the digital shelf during peak times like Ramadan:  Products go out of stock in specific locations during peak demand periods Availability is the most critical element of quick commerce performance during Ramadan or any high-demand period.  1. Location-level out of stock issues during peak windows Products may be available centrally, but go out of stock at specific dark stores or delivery zones just before iftar or late at night. 2. Delayed visibility into stock gaps Teams often discover availability issues only after sales decline, leaving no time to recover lost demand. 3. Lost sales due to competitors When primary SKUs are unavailable, shoppers immediately switch to substitutes or competing brands, often

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Click Fraud in USA

Click Fraud: The Complete Guide for Marketers in 2026

Guide, Ad Traffic Validation /

A few years ago, a globally recognised brand cut two-thirds of its annual online advertising budget around $100 million. What happened next revealed a shocking truth about the digital advertising industry.   There was little to no drop in performance. Conversions held steady, demand didn’t collapse, and the business continued as usual. The reason wasn’t efficiency; it was ad fraud and the brand that showed the mirror to the world was Uber.  Fast forward to 2026, and the problem has only become more complex.  If you are investing in paid media in 2026, it’s important to know that your PPC campaigns may already be exposed to highly sophisticated fraud tactics, many of them powered by advancements in AI. What once started as a side effect of digital advertising has now evolved into a deeply embedded part of the ecosystem marketers operate in today.  According to the recent Imperva report, automated traffic surpassed human activity for the first time in a decade, accounting for 51% of all web traffic in 2024. This surge has been driven by the rapid adoption of AI and large language models (LLMs), which have made bot creation easier, cheaper, and far more scalable.  The challenge is even more pronounced in PPC campaigns within walled gardens, where limited transparency and closed ecosystems make fraud harder to detect.  This click fraud guide serves as a practical framework to help you understand how modern click fraud works and how to act against it effectively.  What is Click Fraud Click fraud is a fraudulent practice of triggering repeated clicks on online advertisements to give a false idea of performance (augmented number of impressions and clicks), generating unfair revenue for publishers and draining budgets of advertisers allocated to PPC campaigns ad budgets of advertisers. To generate fake clicks, fraudsters put bots in action or hire low-paid workers to click on ads repeatedly.  The problem becomes bigger in affiliate campaigns when brands trust their affiliates. but they become the one causing major attribution problem through simpler and sophisticated fraud tactics that we are going to cover further.  Types of Click Fraud Click fraud is broadly classified into two main categories, both aimed at creating a false sense of campaign performance. For brands running PPC campaigns across web and app environments, fraud can occur at every level, sometimes in obvious, low-effort forms, and other times through highly sophisticated methods that closely mimic real user behavior.   Following are some of the common click fraud types –  Click Farms Click farms use large groups of low-paid workers who are instructed to manually click on ads or perform specific actions like visiting a page for a fixed time or installing an app. Since real people carry out these activities, the traffic looks more genuine than bot traffic and can easily slip past basic fraud detection systems.  Competitor Clicks In this type of fraud, competitors intentionally click on your ads to drain your advertising budget and reduce your campaign’s effectiveness. These repeated, non-genuine clicks increase costs without any real intent to convert, pushing your ads out of auctions faster and lowering overall ROI.  Advanced Click Fraud Fraud used to be easy to spot—repetitive patterns, sudden spikes, and low-quality traffic. But AI has changed the click fraud landscape. Now, bots can mimic real users and generate fake clicks in web and app campaigns.  Bots can now mimic real users, triggering fake clicks across paid campaigns in web and app environments. In fact, reports show bot activity has risen for the sixth consecutive year, with 37% of all internet traffic now being bot driven. Following are the tactics through which bots trigger fake clicks –  Headless Browser Bots These are advanced bots that operate within real browser environments, allowing them to behave like human users. They can scroll pages, click ads, and spend time on sites, making their activity difficult to distinguish from genuine traffic and harder for basic fraud tools to detect.  Click Injection In click injection fraud, advanced bots trigger a fake “last click” on a user’s device just moments before an app is installed. This tactic mainly targets app campaigns, where the fraudster steals the credit for the install, even though they played no real role in driving the user to install the app.  Botnets Botnets are large networks of infected devices controlled remotely by fraudsters. These devices generate fake clicks, installs, or impressions from different IP addresses, locations, and devices, making the traffic appear distributed and legitimate.  Incent Fraud Here, users are rewarded with points, money, or other benefits for clicking ads, installing apps, or completing tasks, attracting incentivized traffic. While real users are involved, they have no genuine interest in the brand, leading to low-quality traffic and poor conversion outcomes.  Read in detail about incent fraud and its impact Domain Spoofing In domain spoofing, bots disguise low-quality or fraudulent websites as well-known, trusted domains. This makes the traffic appear premium, misleading advertisers into paying higher prices for inventory that has little or no real value.  Read in detail about how AI enables fraud and yet AI is the only defense How Click Fraud Impacts Advertisers? The impact of click fraud is not limited to merely one aspect of marketing funnel, it extends beyond that impacting the entire funnel. Following are the ways in which it largely impacts advertisers –  Ad budget is consumed by fake clicks Money is spent on bots or hired click farms instead of real users. For example, a campaign with a ₹1,000 daily budget may exhaust it by noon due to fraudulent clicks, stopping ads from reaching genuine prospects later in the day.  Cost-per-click (CPC) increases artificially Repeated fake clicks raise competition signals in ad auctions, pushing CPCs higher. Advertisers end up paying more for the same keywords without any improvement in conversions.  Sales teams chase fake or low-quality leads Click fraud often generates invalid leads or empty form fills. Sales teams spend time calling numbers that don’t connect or emails that never respond, reducing productivity.  Geographic and device targeting get distorted Bots often operate from specific locations or devices. Advertisers may mistakenly block or scale down regions or audiences that appear “low quality” but are actually victims of fraud traffic.  Reduced ROI and campaign scalability Even high-intent campaigns fail to scale because fraud eats incremental budget. Performance plateaus not due to market saturation, but due to invalid traffic.  Bottom of the Funnel Impact of Click Fraud The entire marketing funnels comes under attack when click fraud happens and its bottom of the funnel impact is much more distorted –  High CTR,

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Affiliate Fraud in USA

Holiday Safety Playbook for Marketers Spending on Affiliates

Guide, Ad Traffic Validation /

The holiday season is the biggest time for the year when campaigns scale fast, budgets expand, and every click counts. Brands prepare months in advance to capture the surge in consumer intent, aiming to convert festive enthusiasm into measurable ROI.  Affiliate marketing campaigns play a key role in this strategy, with brands amplifying their reach, boosting app installs, and attracting high-intent shoppers through affiliate partnerships.  In fact, the US affiliate market is valued at 11.53 billion in 2025 and is anticipated to grow at CAGR of 11.08%. This explosive growth shows how integral affiliate partnerships have become for digital marketing success, connecting brands with millions of potential customers.  But with scale comes risk. As affiliate traffic surges, so does the volume of invalid or fraudulent activity that hides within it. Many brands see higher traffic but unchanged conversions, a clear signal that all that “activity” isn’t coming from real users. That’s where ad traffic validation at all levels becomes essential.  In this guide, we will cover –  What is affiliate fraud?  Impact of affiliate fraud during the holiday season How can full-funnel ad traffic validation safeguard brand this holiday season?  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  Conclusion  What is Affiliate Fraud?  Affiliate fraud is when some affiliates perform any illegitimate activity to drive up numbers and generate commission from the inflated metrics. It spoils the campaign metrics and ROAS, especially during the holiday season, when it matters the most. This can occur due to any method of fraud, including fake leads, repeated leads, etc.   How Holiday Affiliate Fraud Impacts Performance   Affiliate fraud spikes during the holiday season as both customer activity and affiliate partnerships surge, with brands competing to capture maximum attention. Let’s look at how this impacts affiliate marketing campaigns and the common types of fraud that tend to peak during this time.  1. Surge in Budgets and Campaign Volume a. Why fraud rises: During the holidays, brands spend more and launch bigger campaigns. With so much traffic and so many clicks coming in, it becomes easier for fraudsters to hide fake activity.  b. Common fraud types: Fake clicks (known as click spamming or click injection), and brand keyword hijacking.  c. How it happens: Fraudsters use bots or click farms to generate thousands of fake clicks or inject clicks just before a real app install, stealing credit from genuine affiliates. Some even bid on your brand name in search ads to capture users looking for you.  d. Impact: Brands end up paying for fake traffic, face inflated costs per click (CPC), and see misleading data on engagement and conversions, paying more but getting less real performance.  2. Rush to Onboard New Affiliates a. Why fraud rises: As brands try to scale fast, they onboard new affiliates quickly, sometimes without proper checks. Fraudsters use this rush to sneak in as “legit” partners.  b. Common fraud types: Coupon misuse, referral fraud, fake conversions, and brand keyword hijacking.  c. How it happens: New or unverified affiliates may create multiple fake accounts, share discount codes widely, or run unauthorized ads using your brand name.   d. Impact: You end up paying fraudulent commissions, your CPC spikes unexpectedly, and your brand message appears in places you never approved.  Read in detail about referral and coupon fraud  3. Incentive-Driven Campaigns Become Fraud Magnets a. Why fraud rises: High cashback offers, discounts, or referral bonuses attract not just customers but also opportunists.  b. Common fraud types: Coupon fraud, referral fraud, and fake conversions.  c. How it happens: Fraudsters or bots create fake accounts to repeatedly use referral links or coupon codes. Some even set up “install farms” to fake app installs just to earn rewards.  d. Impact: You attract a flood of low-quality users who rarely return, damaging long-term retention and skewing your success metrics.  4. Attribution Manipulation Peaks a. Why fraud rises: Holiday campaigns offer higher payouts, so fraudsters compete to take credit for the “last click” that leads to a conversion.  b. Common fraud types: Click injection, and click spamming, also organic hijacking  c. How it happens: Fraudsters trigger fake clicks right before a user installs your app, making it look like they caused the conversion.  d. Impact: Real affiliates lose credit, your optimization decisions become inaccurate, and marketing spend shifts toward bad traffic sources.  5. More Sophisticated Automation Attacks a. Why fraud rises: Fraudsters use advanced bots that can imitate real users during high-traffic seasons.  b. Common fraud types: Fake clicks, fake signups, and automated referral abuse.  c. How it happens: They use tools like “headless browsers” (bots that act like real browsers without showing a screen) or emulators to mimic user actions like clicking ads or filling forms.  d. Impact: Your analytics fill with fake data, increasing payouts to dishonest affiliates and making performance reports unreliable.  6. Masked Fraud in High Volumes a. Why fraud rises: When traffic surges during the holidays, small signs of fraud easily get lost in the mix.  b. Common fraud types: All types, especially coupon/referral abuse and click spam.  c. How it happens: Fraudsters mix fake traffic with genuine visitors or spread out fake clicks over time to avoid detection tools. d. Impact: Fraud becomes harder to spot manually and slowly eats away at your budget and performance metrics.  7. Limited Time to Validate Data a. Why fraud rises: Fraud is no longer a black-and-white issue, and reviewing every click or conversion isn’t practical. Dishonest affiliates often blend legitimate traffic with incentivized fraud and organic hijacking, which are the real human interactions that show activity but no genuine intent to convert.  b. Common fraud types: Incent fraud and organic hijacking  c. How it happens: Fraudsters push fake activity in short bursts, ensuring they get paid before the fraud is discovered.  d. Impact: You end up getting non-genuine users who lead to wasted ad spend, skewed performance data, and lower overall campaign ROI.  How does mFilterIt’s Ad Fraud Detection Tool help Brands during Holiday Season?   To fight affiliate fraud effectively, brands need to validate ad traffic across the entire funnel, ensuring

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ad fraud guide

Marketer’s Guide to Ad Fraud – What it is and How to Solve it

Guide, Ad Traffic Validation /

If your campaigns are costing you more than they’re performing, it’s time to rebuild your strategy, because the issue might be lying in your traffic itself. Ad fraud has become one of the biggest reasons impacting your campaigns and marketing budgets across walled gardens, open networks, affiliate platforms, apps, and programmatic ecosystems. The first half of 2025 recorded an average global ad fraud rate of 39.7%, and fraud peaked at 49% in June, the highest in five years. With AI-driven bots, fake users, and manipulated attribution becoming more advanced, the financial impact is far deeper than most marketers realize. Therefore, to help you get clarity, this guide will help you understand what ad fraud looks like today, where it hides, how it impacts real performance, and what you can do to protect your budgets with the right validation strategies. What is Ad Fraud?   Ad fraud is the deliberate manipulation of advertising systems to generate illegitimate revenue by simulating real user interactions, such as clicks, installs, or views, without actual consumer interest.   The lost advertising money is not the only obvious impact of fraudulent activities. Since fraudsters manipulate the most important ad performance metrics, they also skew the insights marketers and advertising teams may draw from those metrics. The impact from this, in many cases, leads to a long-term negative impact on the brand’s advertising efforts.    The problem is made worse because of the availability of options for fraudsters.    Let’s look at some of the most common methods and techniques employed by fraudsters to scam honest advertisers.   What are the Different Types of Ad Fraud? [Channel-wise Fraud] Types of Web Ad Fraud Web advertising remains one of the most vulnerable digital channels because of the open networks and automated programmatic advertising ecosystem, that makes it challenging to track and verify the legitimacy of each impression and click. Here are the common types of web ad fraud techniques every advertiser must be aware of:   Click Fraud As the name suggests, click fraud involves generating fake clicks on pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Many fraudsters use simple bots to generate these fake clicks. However, most ad networks and platforms can now detect fake clicks coming from simple bots. To overcome this, fraudsters have started developing and deploying sophisticated bots that can mimic human-user behavior and fool the algorithms of the ad platforms.    In some cases, specifically in less developed countries, fraudsters employ cheap labor on “click farms” to generate fake clicks without attracting suspicion from ad networks.    Impression Fraud Impression fraud involves fraudsters creating fake impressions on ads that pay in exchange for those impressions.    This type of fraud also often involves bots to create fake traffic that can be used to register impressions on ads. Tech-savvy fraudsters may also use more sophisticated methods such as pixel stuffing or ad stacking.   With pixel stuffing, the fraudsters “stuff” the ad into a single pixel on their webpage. This way, when a real user visit said webpage, they don’t see the ad and the fraud publisher still ends up getting paid for that impression.    Similarly, ad stacking involves “stacking” multiple ads on top of each other in a single ad space on the webpage. This way, when the user visits the page, they may see just one ad, but the fraud publisher will get paid for all the ads stacked in the ad space.    Domain Spoofing Domain spoofing is a type of ad fraud where a fraudster tricks advertisers into thinking their ads are showing on popular, trustworthy websites. However, in reality, the ads run on low-quality MFA (Made for Advertisements) websites or even fake websites.  The primary goal is usually to steal sensitive information like login credentials, generate fake leads, and earn money.   In digital terms, the fraudsters change the website’s identity by using a spoofed domain name, elements, and visuals (similar to that of a legitimate website like a well-known press release page) during the ad auction process, so it appears to be a premium site. Advertisers end up paying high prices, thinking their ad is being seen by a valuable audience, but it’s actually wasted on irrelevant or fake traffic, hurting performance, ad budgets, and brand safety.   Cookie Stuffing Cookie stuffing is one of the common ad fraud tactics used by fraudsters to manipulate affiliate marketing performance. This happens when a fraudulent affiliate secretly “stuffs” or adds multiple affiliate tracking cookies into a user’s browser without their knowledge or action.   These cookies are meant to track if the user later makes a purchase on a brand’s site. If they do, the fraudster earns a commission, even though they didn’t contribute to the sale. It’s like someone secretly putting their referral name on your order so they can get credit. This affiliate fraud tactic hurts brands because it inflates affiliate payouts, messes up marketing data, and steals credit from genuine affiliates who actually put real efforts to earn the sale.   Geo Masking Geo masking, also known as location fraud, is another type of web ad fraud where the actual location of the user is hidden or faked to make it appear as if they are from a targeted region.  Fraudsters use various methods like using proxy servers, or VPNs to route invalid traffic through target locations spoofing GPS data and IP addresses.    Fraudsters do this to trick advertisers into paying higher rates for traffic that looks like it’s genuine, when it’s really coming from irrelevant regions, misleading performance metrics and further campaign optimization.   Types of Mobile Ad Fraud With the expansive growth in app-based marketing and the complexity of attribution models, mobile apps have become a breeding ground for highly sophisticated ad fraud. These fraud types manipulate app installs, in-app engagements, and user attribution at each stage of the funnel using following techniques:   Install Fraud Install fraud is a type of mobile ad fraud and involves faking app installs to scam advertisers that operate on cost-per-install (CPI) campaigns.   Fraudsters may employ simple or sophisticated techniques to execute this type of fraud. Simpler techniques

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