Ad fraud (also referred to as ''Click Fraud or PPC Fraud)'' is concerned with the practice of fraudulently representing online advertisement impressions, clicks, conversion or data events in order to generate revenue. Ad-frauds are particularly popular among cybercriminals While ad fraud is frequently associated with banner ads, video ads and in-app ads,

click fraud Click, Klick and Klik may refer to: Airlines * Click Airways, a UAE airline * Clickair, a Spanish airline * MexicanaClick, a Mexican airline Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Klick (fictional species), an alien race in the g ...

has been associated with search marketing, mobile advertising and conversion fraud with

affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which affiliates receive a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to outsource part of the sales process. It is a form of p ...

. AppsFlyer estimates financial exposure to app install fraud in Q1 of 2018 was as much as $800 million. Ad fraud is the categorical term inclusive of all forms of online advertising fraud. A successful ad-fraud campaign generally involves a sophisticated combination of

Identity fraud Identity fraud is the use by one person of another person's personal information, without authorization, to commit a crime or to deceive or defraud that other person or a third person. Most identity fraud is committed in the context of financial ad ...

and attribution fraud: for instance, sending fake traffic through bots using fake social accounts and falsified cookies; bots will click on the ads available on a scam page that is faking a famous brand. In 2004 Google's CFO George Reyes said that fraud is the biggest threat to internet economy with the first research paper covering the topic in 1999 or earlier. In 2016

World Federation of Advertisers The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is a global association for multinational marketers and national advertiser associations. Its membership is made up of over 140 of the world's top brands and national associations in more than 60 markets. ...

published its first guidance on Ad fraud to advise its members on how to counter the problem allegedly eating close to US$20 billion of its members ad budgets in 2015.

Comparison with other Cybercrime

In a 2017 report Juniper Research estimates ad fraud to be worth US$19billion equivalent to $51 million per day. This figure, representing advertising on online and mobile devices, will continue to rise, reaching $44 billion by 2022. Ad fraud is the #1 cybercrime in terms of revenue, ahead of Tax-refund fraud. HP Enterprise in its ''Business of Hacking'' report highlighted ad fraud as the easiest and the most lucrative form of

Cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing the ...

Important Classifications

Types of Fraud

* Bots / Non-Human Traffic Ad Fraud * Click Farms Ad Fraud * Ad