How Companies deal with Ad Fraud

App developers sell advertising space as a means to generate revenue.

Different app developers from the small participants to the big companies such as Facebook will rely on their advertisements to make a profit.

Money is involved in the advertisement space; many scammers have come up with ways to cheat the system. Advertisers are keen to know whether the money they spend in advertising is utilized well.

They have resorted to hiring ad verification agencies. The ad fraudsters have come up with sophisticated schemes that allow them to cheat the systems.

Ad and website developers know they will be paid for displaying ads, they come up with several ways to improve their revenues.

One of the ways to combat ad fraud is by using proxies to target the ad companies that you think are committing fraud. You would check whether they are actually holding up their end of the bargain. The Proxyway website is a great tool to figure out what proxies you would need to get and how to get started with them to battle against ad fraud.

How ad fraud works?

Fraudsters use different means to steal from advertisers each year. It is approximated that they steal billions of dollars each year. Some of the tactics they employ to steal the ad revenue are simple, but others are highly sophisticated.

The surge in mobile data usage

The app developers have noted an increase in the mobile data usage in their apps when the fraudsters hijack their apps. They conceal the videos in their apps where they play in the background where no one is seeing. The videos utilize the data and mobile device users end up complaining of fast mobile data usage. If you notice your phone is utilizing a lot of data in a given time, then check out the possibility of hidden videos playing in the background.

Battery drains faster

When ads are playing in the background, the mobile charge tends to run faster. There are high chances several webpages are open in the background when a given app is open. The surge in app usage means the mobile phone is running several applications you may have not requested. Be careful when you notice the sudden changes in the mobile charge utilization. Some fraudsters layer videos on top of each other. A website owner allows them to utilize their advertising space, but they end up displaying several videos on the banner space. They end up stealing revenue from the website and app developers.

Techniques fraudsters use

Hidden ads

One of the most common fraudsters uses to steal from companies that are trying to advertise the products. For example, they can display a small video that is covered by other types of content on a website. When the small video plays in the background, it will not get noticed by other website users. It will register a view from the advertiser’s side. They can end up paying for the video that in a real sense did not display to the internet users.

Impression laundering

It is a practice where the website where the ad will be displayed is hidden. They can use a different website that has content related to the brand an advertiser is looking forward to promoting. The ad is then paid for, but the advertising ends up displaying it on websites that have irrelevant content. The fraud is very difficult to notice. The advertisers will have a list of legitimate sites that advertisers would like to pay for. When they get the deal to display the ads, they end up displaying them on high traffic sites that have irrelevant and illegal content that nobody would like to monetize.

How ad companies verify ads

Advertisers have started verifying ads. They use beacons that analyze the content on a site where the ad is displayed. The verification process makes it possible to know whether the ad is displayed is on the right site.

People looking forward to getting value for money have started hiring companies that carry out the ad verification process on their behalf.

Use of Proxies to Check Ad Fraud

You can utilize proxies to check the ads. They allow you to connect to a website or access content where your ads are displayed as if you were a user from a different location. Through the utilization of proxies, it is possible to access content from different parts of the world through changing IP addresses. You will get an idea of how your ads are displayed in different locations. The ad verification companies utilize the proxies so that they can access the content from different locations and know whether they are reaching out to the right audience in different locations.