Glossary
A
Affiliate Fraud Prevention
Not all affiliates play fair. We expose and prevent affiliate marketing fraud, including cookie stuffing, fake installs, and recycled leads, ensuring partnerships are built on integrity.
Ad Spend Optimization
We eliminate wasted budget by identifying fake traffic across platforms and touchpoints. we optimize every dollar spent with conversion tracking software and traffic-level insights.
Ad Verification
Ensure your ads appear in the right place, to the right people, and in the right format. We cross-check placements to confirm delivery and protect brand equity.
Ad Injection
A malicious tactic where unauthorized ads are injected into webpages leading to brand safety and trust issues.
Ad Stacking
A form of ad fraud where multiple ads are layered in a single placement, but only the top ad is visible. Hidden ads still register impressions, artificially inflating viewability metrics without delivering genuine user engagement.
Auto-Refresh
Webpages that refresh themselves to artificially increase impressions or revenue.
Ad Cloaking
A deceptive tactic where users see one ad but verification tools see another. It helps malicious creatives bypass ad verification and brand safety filters, allowing policy-violating content to run undetected.
Attribution Fraud
Deceptive techniques (like last click hijacking) used to steal credit for real conversions, typically harming conversion tracking software accuracy.
B
Bot Prevention
Blocking fake or automated traffic before ads are shown.
Blacklisting
Blocking known fraudulent IPs, devices, or domains to maintain clean campaign delivery.
Bot Detection
AI-powered filters that screen out non-human interactions in ad inventory.
Bot Traffic
Automated scripts or headless browsers generate fake user visits that inflate sessions, bounces, and engagement metrics, creating a misleading view of campaign effectiveness.
Botnet
A large group of infected devices that work together to simulate user behavior, clicks, or even conversions.
Brand Safety
Measures taken to keep your ads off harmful, explicit, or misleading content protecting your brand reputation.
Behavioural & Heuristic Analysis
We use a hybrid of behaviour-based modelling and rule-driven analysis to identify bot-like actions and unnatural flows. These patterns often reveal attribution fraud and suspicious conversion abuse.
C
Click Integrity
We ensure only real users are engaging with your ads, filtering out click bots and automated traffic using both detection systems and click fraud protection
Conversion-Based Filtration
Only authentic leads and events get counted. We apply multi-layer checks including behavioural, device-based, and journey-level signals to filter out noise and give your transaction monitoring true meaning.
Campaign Performance Monitoring
We continuously monitor click rates, conversion paths, bounce rates, and more using both in-house tech and integrated conversion tracking software to ensure consistent performance.
Cost per Validation (CPV)
A pricing model where advertisers pay only for verified, fraud-free user interactions.
Cookie Stuffing
Secretly placing affiliate cookies in a user’s browser so that fraudsters receive commissions for actions they didn’t earn.
Click Fraud
Bots, competitors, or incentivized users generate fake clicks draining your paid advertising budget.
CPA Fraud
Fraudsters fake sign-ups or leads to steal Cost-Per-Action (CPA) budgets.
Click Injection
In mobile attribution fraud, a rogue app sends a fake click millisecond before a real app install occurs, stealing conversion credit and draining the install budget by claiming ownership of the install.
Click Spamming (Click Flooding)
Fraudsters generate large volumes of fake clicks, often using bots or proxy traffic, to overwhelm attribution systems. The goal is to claim credit for installs or sign-ups without real user interaction.
D
Domain Spoofing
Fraudsters pretend to be premium websites in order to charge higher CPMs hurting your brand reputation and wasting your ad spend.
E
F
Full-Funnel Ad Fraud Detection
Tracking of every phase of your digital campaign from first impression to final conversion to identify and block fraudulent activities. This end-to-end coverage acts like robust fraud prevention, shielding your paid advertising from waste.
Fraudulent Pattern Recognition
Our AI/ML models have learned from thousands of campaigns. They pick up subtle cues whether it’s mobile attribution fraud, spoofed referrers, or time-based manipulation of journey logs.
G
General Invalid Traffic (GIVT)
Easily detectable bot traffic, like crawlers or data center hits.
H
Hidden Ad Impressions
Serving ads in ways that make them invisible (e.g., off-screen or 1×1 pixels) just to boost metrics dishonestly.
Hijacked Device
Compromised phones or desktops used as bots to simulate impressions or clicks.
I
Impression Integrity
Valid impressions come from human eyes. our checks help combat impression fraud and preserve your brand reputation by verifying your creatives are genuinely viewed not just served.
Incentivized Browsing
Users (or bots) are paid or rewarded to click ads, skewing CTRs and disrupting performance tracking.
Invalid Traffic (IVT)
Any form of non-legitimate ad traffic including bots, click farms, hijacked sessions, or misrepresented geolocation.
Impression Fraud
Occurs when your ad appears in unseen or hidden placements reducing real value while charging you more.
J
JavaScript Injection
Inserting malicious JS code into ad delivery paths to hijack ad calls or redirect traffic.
Junk Traffic
Low-quality or non-converting traffic that wastes budget and skews performance metrics.
Journey Hijacking
When malware or injected scripts alter the user’s path to redirect to a competitor or fraudulent page.
JSON Ad Tags
A data-interchange format used in programmatic ads; vulnerable if not secured properly.
JavaScript Fingerprinting
A method to identify devices for fraud detection based on browser characteristics.
K
Keyword Stuffing
Overuse of keywords to manipulate SEO rankings, potentially flagged by search engines.
Keyword Hijacking
When competitors or affiliates bid on your brand keywords to divert traffic.
Keyword Monitoring
Tracking keyword use across affiliates and search engines to prevent abuse.
KYC (Know Your Customer)
Regulatory process that can apply to affiliate validation and onboarding.
Keystroke Emulation
Fraud tactic where bots mimic human typing patterns to avoid detection.
L
Lead Fraud
Submission of fake or stolen user data in lead-generation campaigns.
Latency Injection
Delaying ad calls to manipulate impression timing or reporting.
Landing Page Spoofing
Creating a fake destination page to mislead users or capture data.
Location Spoofing
Masking true user geolocation to bypass geo-filters in ad campaigns.
Lookalike Fraud
Mimicking real users to pass basic verification systems and earn CPA payouts.
M
Mobile App Security
We secure your in-app journeys from install to post-install by catching threats like SDK spoofing and attribution hijacks, including both app attribution fraud and mobile attribution fraud techniques that mislead marketers.
Marketing ROI Tools
We offer customizable dashboards and reports that link paid advertising to real business results. Track KPIs, improve allocation, and analyze patterns with ease.
N
Non-Human Traffic (NHT)
Web traffic generated by bots, spiders, or scripts rather than people.
Null Referrer Traffic
Visits without a referrer, often used to hide the origin of suspicious activity.
Network-Level Fraud
Fraud that originates at the ISP, hosting, or CDN level, harder to detect.
Noise Traffic
Excessive or irrelevant traffic generated to obscure fraudulent signals.
NAT (Network Address Translation) Fraud
When multiple devices appear as one to mask click farms.
O
Organic Traffic Spoofing
Making paid or bot traffic appear as organic to manipulate analytics.
Overlay Fraud
Displaying ads as overlays on content users are already engaging with, often without consent.
OS Spoofing
Misrepresenting the operating system (Android/iOS) in device metadata for fraud.
On-Site Fraud Detection
Real-time fraud mitigation executed directly on the publisher’s platform.
Off-Page Validation
Post-impression checks for fraud that occur outside the publisher environment.
P
Programmatic Validation
Our systems validate all programmatic ad purchases in real time making sure your bids are spent wisely, not on spoofed domains or shady traffic networks. It also reflects current digital advertising trends in transparency and control.
Programmatic Advertising Fraud
Fraudsters exploit automated ad buying with tactics like fake inventory, spoofed auctions, and invisible placements.
Pixel Stuffing
This technique places ads into a tiny 1×1 pixel, making them invisible to users but still counted as impressions. It inflates CPMs and skews viewability reports by creating fake ad activity.
Proxy Traffic
Traffic routed through proxy servers to disguise its true origin. This geo-spoofing makes low-quality or bot traffic appear as if it’s coming from premium regions, skewing geographic reporting and traffic sourcing accuracy.
Q
Quality Score Manipulation
Tactics to inflate ad platform quality metrics (CTR, engagement) through fake interactions.
Query Hijacking
Intercepting search queries to mislead users toward scam or spoofed destinations.
Qualified Traffic
Genuine, intent-driven users likely to engage or convert.
Quick-Click Bots
Bots designed to perform click-throughs rapidly to simulate user interest.
Quota Fraud
Exceeding campaign thresholds (impressions, installs) via automation to exhaust budgets quickly.
R
Real-Time Fraud Detection
Fraud evolves fast, and so do we. Our real-time systems catch anomalies such as click flooding, cookie stuffing, and mobile attribution fraud as they happen helping brands stay agile.
Retargeting Fraud
Bots simulate high-interest behaviour to get retargeted claiming credit for conversions they had nothing to do with.
S
Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT)
SIVT mimics human behavior to bypass common detection tools.
Session Hijacking
Attackers take control of active user sessions such as ad platform dashboards or analytics tools to perform unauthorized actions like placing bids, changing creatives, or stealing sensitive data.
SEO Spam
Spammy links or keyword-stuffed content injected into legitimate websites (often via hacked CMS plugins) to manipulate search engine rankings, reduce organic visibility, and risk domain penalties.
T
Traffic Quality Insights
Dive deep into the origin, composition, and credibility of your site traffic. By detecting fraudulent clusters, we prevent metrics distortion and aid smarter ad spend analytics.
Tagging Infrastructure
With enterprise-grade tagging and analytics in place, you get clean, actionable data across your ad stack fuelling campaign planning and digital advertising trends tracking.
Traffic Source Analysis
Not all sources are equal. We categorize inbound visits and flag proxy use, botnet traffic, and app attribution fraud, allowing you to zero in on what’s working.
Traffic Sourcing
Using third-party networks to acquire traffic can increase volume quickly but risks introducing fraudulent, bot-driven, or low-quality visitors. Monitoring CTR, conversion, and bounce rates is crucial to avoid paying for junk traffic.
Traffic Quality Index (TQI)
A composite score reflecting the percentage of clean, valid, and meaningful traffic on a campaign.
U
User Journey Mapping
We map every touchpoint to identify points of leakage, redirection, or manipulation often exposing hidden marketing fraud attempts in the process.
V
Viewability Rate
Percentage of ad impressions that are actually viewable by users per industry standards.
Video Ad Fraud
Fraud specific to video formats (e.g., auto-play off-screen or muted).
VPN Spoofing
Use of VPNs to fake user location and bypass geographic targeting.
View Fraud
Generating fake ad views through bots or scripts to inflate engagement.
Validation Tag
Script used to verify ad placement, viewability, and authenticity in real-time.
W
Walled Garden Transparency
Even within gated environments like Meta ecosystems, we help uncover fraud signals maintaining brand reputation and ensuring your ad metrics reflect reality.
X
XML Ad Feeds
Structured data feeds often used in programmatic ad serving, sometimes exploited for fraud.
XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)
A web vulnerability that can be used to hijack ad environments.
X-Forwarded-For Spoofing
Manipulating HTTP headers to falsify user IP addresses.
X-Bot
Term used for cross-platform bots capable of mimicking multiple device types.
X-Ray Attribution
Deep inspection into attribution chains to find inconsistencies or manipulation.
Y
Yield Optimization Abuse
Exploiting ad networks’ revenue optimization to serve low-quality or fraudulent ads.
YouTube Ad Fraud
Click, impression, or view fraud on YouTube ads via bots or embedded loops
Yield Farming (in Ads)
Aggressively flipping inventory across platforms to gain arbitrage from ad placements, sometimes fraudulently.
Yellow-Ad Placement
Industry slang for borderline-safe ad placements; often exploited for fraud.
Yield Spoofing
Misrepresenting inventory value or engagement to ad buyers.
Z
Zero-Click Traffic
Users land without clicking an ad (e.g., redirect or malware), often suspicious in nature.
Zombie Traffic
Bots operating on infected devices (botnets) mimicking user behavior long after infection.
Zip Code Fraud
Misreporting user geolocation data at the ZIP/pincode level to bypass geo-filters.
Zero-Day Exploits
Previously unknown vulnerabilities used to manipulate ad tech environments.
Zero View Fraud
Impressions generated on ads that were never visible on screen for even a millisecond.
