Ad fraud is a growing problem for advertisers, and in the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, fraudsters continue to become more sophisticated. Bad actors continue to find new ways to leverage technology or exploit the online advertising ecosystem, leaving advertisers more vulnerable to ad fraud than ever before. Digital advertisers are susceptible to a range of deceitful tactics, such as domain spoofing, click fraud and various other fraudulent schemes.
At Creating Results, we’ve seen this trend involving fraudulent leads firsthand. Despite assurances from advertising platforms about the enhancement of their algorithms, the reality is that businesses need trusted, expert partners to maintain constant, hands-on vigilance to mitigate ongoing fraud attempts. In the past 12 months, we’ve seen advertisers in the senior living and 55+ industries face an influx of misleading or fraudulent leads.
Types of Digital Ad Fraud
Digital advertising fraud takes various forms, and some of the prominent ones affecting advertisers include:
- Domain spoofing: Domain spoofing is a deceptive technique used to misrepresent the source of online ad inventory, deceiving advertisers into believing that their ads are being placed on premium websites. These ads end up appearing on lesser-known or inappropriate sites, resulting in a waste of advertising resources.
- Click fraud: This deceptive practice involves the artificial inflation of clicks of ads on advertising networks. Humans, bots or automated programs simulate user behavior by clicking on ads, draining advertisers’ budgets without genuine user engagement. Fraudsters are then either paid for sending traffic to specific sites or by creating fake websites and selling the ad space.
- Malicious bots: Fraudsters use bots to complete forms, creating fraudulent leads or sign-ups to gain financial rewards through affiliate marketing schemes or to receive payment for driving traffic. This deceptive practice enables fraudsters to profit at the expense of advertisers who may allocate resources inefficiently or make ill-informed decisions based on skewed performance data.
Combating Fraud
Adopting monitoring measures, performing regular audits and customizing targeting parameters can aid in curbing the influx of fraudulent leads. Employing advanced analytics tools and leveraging human expertise to ensure your ads are placed on premium websites and display for relevant searches is key to preventing wasted ad spend due to fraudulent activity.
The rise in digital ad fraud shows how crucial it is for businesses to work with trusted partners who are experienced in managing fraudulent attempts. While ad platforms strive for improvement, it remains imperative for advertisers to be proactive, diligent and adaptive in safeguarding their campaigns against fraudulent activities, ensuring their investments yield genuine, valuable leads.
If your community is experiencing these issues, contact us today to see how we can help!