In this digital friendly ecosystem, massive usage of mobile and its apps has entirely changed the way of interaction. Be it games or booking a ride or internet banking, everything is based on apps which are funded by ads. So, ads play a vital role in making the content available to each and everyone. But the biggest threat to the contents which is supported by ads is ad-fraud.
Mobile Ad fraud in App Ecosystem in the US
Last year, according to Statista, The US market ranked third in mobile ad fraud with the estimated value of approximately 1.20 billion dollars. The most affected market was European which estimated to the loss approx. 2.05 billion dollars followed by Asia pacific market with app frauds estimated up to 1.5 billion dollars.
Install fraud is a serious issue that sabotages the accuracy of the campaign metrics and waste advertising budgets. It causes financial and strategic harm to advertisers and app developers.
Click Injection
This technique is quite similar to click spamming but in a more advanced manner. It is more difficult for a user to detect this ad-fraud than click spamming. The only difference between the two is that in click spamming an indefinite number of clicks are used whereas in click injection, a single click is used at the time of download. It specifically targets Android based devices.
This ad-fraud starts when the user downloads or installs a new app, fraudsters get a notification through Android broadcaster, and they trigger a fake click at that precise moment before the download is complete. This injected click gives them access to the user’s device tracking code which makes the click seem genuine.
This not only leads to wastage of ad budgets but also mislead advertisers while making future campaigns as well as restrict them from using authentic and effective platforms.
Click Spamming
It is also known as click flooding or organic poaching. It is the most basic ad fraud used by the fraudsters or spammers to generate flood of fake clicks in order to take the credit as well as benefiting financially. This ad fraud is not only limited to mobile apps, but it is also being detected, now a days, on websites especially those accessed by mobile devices.
This ad fraud starts when a user lands on a page or downloads an app operated by fraudsters. The moment the app is downloaded, the fraudsters start generating massive fake clicks on the app which continues to run in the background, of which the user is unaware. Most of the time, it looks like the user is interacting with the ad whereas they don’t even see an ad.
The most common examples of such frauds are battery-saving apps or memory cleaning apps. These types of ad-frauds might result in defamation of brand reputation and wastage of ad- spend resources.
SDK Spoofing
SDK Spoofing, also known as replay attacks or traffic spoofing, is a bot-based ad-fraud. In this type of ad-fraud spammers fake installs and in-app events which appear authentic as the data from genuine devices is used although there is no actual installation. The fraudsters act as middleman and encrypt the data from SDK and its backend servers by adding code to an app. This results in generation of a series of installs for the app to be defrauded.
In order to successfully ensure the implementation of preventive measures of these ad frauds, it is necessary to understand these mechanisms fully. It helps in safeguarding the investments of the market.
How to combat mobile ad fraud in app ecosystem
Advertisers must face difficult situations in the digital landscape where GIVT and SIVT bots are used. These bots impact key metrics at different levels such as pre-bid and post-bid, potential or bot-generated user clicks, app installation levels, or events like logins, sign-ups and registrations, etc. These may also include deposits or purchase transactions.
In order to face these challenges, we check impression, click integrity, install validation, re-engagement, and post-back blocking to help the advertiser target and map their users in a better way. We check these key indicators at every stage.
Conclusion
It can be said that fighting against mobile app fraud is collaborative, highly technical and an incremental game of cat and mouse with fraudsters. This combined effort of multi-dimensional defense makes the app ecosystem much less vulnerable to the menaces of ad fraud. This can be done through using mobile fraud detection tool.
Get in touch to learn more about the mobile app fraud.
