{"id":46793,"date":"2026-09-09T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/?p=46793"},"modified":"2026-09-09T13:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:22:44","slug":"ad-fraud-types","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/ad-fraud-types\/","title":{"rendered":"Ad Fraud: Types, Warning Signs, and Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"
Advertisement<\/div>\"\"<\/a><\/div>

Our friends at RollerAds talks about how to identify ad fraud and prevent them from ruining your campaigns.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\n \n \n \n <\/colgroup>\n \n\n \n\n \n
adfraud<\/th><\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\n
\n \ud83c\udf93<\/span>\n

\n Fraud is a silent killer of the affiliate marketing industry<\/span>: your campaign might receive lots of impressions, clicks, and visits, but if you don\u2019t see cash flowing in, then it\u2019s a clear sign of a scam.\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/td> <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n \n \n \n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Unless, of course, you\u2019re running a complex campaign, where your first stage focuses on brand awareness instead of conversions.<\/p>\n

In digital marketing, if any kind of fraud occurs, no party is safe from it; that\u2019s why every reputable advertising network, like RollerAds<\/u><\/a>, works hard to detect and prevent it.<\/p>\n

But unfortunately, no matter what measures the network takes, occasionally some fraudulent source can sneak into the platform.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t happen often, but it can happen nonetheless.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why here at RollerAds we\u2019ve compiled the definitive anti-fraud guide, so you can fight off fraud yourself!<\/p>\n

Today, you\u2019ll learn about types of fraud, their signs, consequences, how RollerAds fights invalid traffic, and what to do if you fall victim to a scam.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Ad Fraud Explained<\/span><\/h2>\n

To successfully fight your enemy, you must first know your enemy. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This is why we\u2019ll start by dissecting some of the most common types of invalid and fraudulent traffic, and then go over exactly how ad fraud is harming our industry.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Bot Traffic<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u26a1This one is the most basic of them all: simple bots increasing traffic numbers from cheap data center servers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And because of their simple nature, all they can do is follow repetitive actions, like endlessly clicking on URL links, which makes them relatively easy to spot.<\/p>

Advertisement<\/div>\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This kind of traffic might look active, but bots don\u2019t buy anything, so no conversions at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Malware programs and unethical advertising<\/span><\/h3>\n

But bots can only get scammers so far, so this is where malware programs that simulate human behavior get into the picture.<\/p>\n

As we found out, bot traffic can be relatively easily detected due to its simplicity; because of that, many fraudsters began routing their traffic through millions of compromised devices like phones, smart TVs, routers, anything that can be infected with malware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u26a1The whole process goes like that: an advertiser\u2019s ad loads on the website, which triggers the system to render the said ad invisibly in the background on one of the compromised devices.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Even though the end user never saw the advertisement, the media buyer still has to pay for the impression, since the ad was technically shown.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Click Farms and Incentivized Traffic<\/span><\/h3>\n

You\u2019ve probably seen sweatshops with low-wage workers in crime and action movies.<\/p>\n

Well, click farms are basically the same thing, with the only difference being that instead of producing illegal substances, those click farms complete target actions that are worth basically nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u26a1These workers are paid pennies to sit in front of devices and manually click links, scroll through feeds, install apps, fill out forms, and perform other tasks that require a \u201chuman\u201d touch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Because of that, this type of invalid traffic is harder to spot, as real people indeed do all the actions, but they have zero interest in your ads beyond their small paycheck.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ud83d\udc49SIGN UP FOR ROLLERADS\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

<\/span>How Fraud is Harming the Digital Marketing Industry<\/span><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, aside from some general figures, there\u2019s no definitive data on how much affiliate marketing has lost to ad fraud, and even those estimates don\u2019t paint a good-looking picture.<\/p>\n

For example, in 2018, it was determined that total daily spending on fraud climbed to $17 million<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

And in 2023, the market lost $84 billion to fraud<\/u><\/a>, which is 22% of total online ad spending at that time.<\/p>\n

If you thought that was bad, wait until you see the predictions.<\/p>\n

Analysts expect that by 2028, the industry will lose around $170 billion<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not even taking into account the time and effort advertisers will waste.<\/p>\n

Behind every stolen dollar hides the fruitless chase for fake leads, creatives optimized for phony engagement, retargeting budgets drained by nonexistent interest, and, last but not least, the loss of trust in metrics.<\/p>\n

Fraud can also erode trust in advertising.<\/p>\n

For instance, cookies can be replaced, skewing the attribution.<\/p>\n

This has a huge impact on the industry, because fair advertisers do all the work and get penalized, while those who replace cookies reap the rewards.<\/p>\n

In the long run, brands that allow such practice to exist end up without conversions and out of business.<\/p>\n

This is why we believe, without exaggeration, that ad fraud is a silent killer of the digital marketing industry.<\/p>\n

<\/span>How RollerAds Combats Ad Fraud<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u26a1Because there\u2019s no single metric that can detect fraudulent traffic on its own, our team has developed a set of 20+ technical metrics and several performance metrics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

They evaluate each traffic channel against the others to determine whether it is valid.<\/p>\n

According to our estimates, a quarter of all the potential traffic is fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Gladly, our system masterfully recognizes and filters it out before it reaches advertisers.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look under the hood together and see how RollerAds\u2019 fraud engine works.<\/p>\n

The first step is the one that any serious network takes: pattern emulations, mismatched time zones, and signs of hijacked devices.<\/p>\n

These are relatively easy to spot and catch before they ever reach an advertiser\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

After that, more than ten out of those 20+ technical metrics are directly tied to performance against the CPA goals that advertisers actually care about.<\/p>\n

Even if the source seems squeaky-clean, it can still be blocked if \u201chumans\u201d don\u2019t complete actions that will bring revenue.<\/p>\n

If the traffic channel fails to deliver results and there\u2019s no reasonable explanation for it, it will never be part of the RollerAds platform.<\/p>\n

And the fraud detection system never stops, ensuring the safety of our partners and their marketing campaigns every step of the way.<\/p>\n

And because it runs in the background, if anything comes up, the traffic source<\/a> is automatically blocked, sometimes even before the advertiser can notice anything suspicious.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Signs of Invalid Traffic<\/span><\/h2>\n

It’s good to know how to detect and handle fraudulent traffic if something slips in, just in case; that\u2019s why we\u2019ve compiled a list of the most common and reliable signs that indicate you\u2019re getting scammed.<\/p>\n

\"signs<\/p>\n

Source: <\/em>RollerAds blog<\/u><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Below, we\u2019ll take a closer look at each of these warning sign groups and explain what they may indicate in practice.<\/p>\n

First, we\u2019ll go through the ones that show a high likelihood of fraud, also known as direct signs<\/strong>:<\/p>\n