Mobile Ad fraud is an attempt by fraudsters to manipulate ad impressions by artificially inflating them. The objective is to gain from the ad budget by showing engagement on ads that have no potential of getting viewed. Click spam, click injection and SDK spoofing are types of mobile app fraud.
Click spam is when the fraudster executes a click for the user whereas click injection is when they trigger clicks before an app download is complete. SDK spoofing triggers illegitimate installs.
Other categories of mobile ad fraud include:
- Real user and device with fake action: Fraudsters try to steal real organic installs through click spamming.
- Read user and device with manipulated action: In this category fraudsters manipulate action through VPN, viewability issues, and click stuffing.
- Fake user with a real device and take action: Fraudsters mimic the behavior of real users on real devices.
- Fake user with a fake device and fake action: Smart bots and emulators are used to manipulate and mimic the action of real users.
