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Mobile ad frauds have increased this year between January and August, with fake users and bots being the most prevalent fraud type.
Scammers use fake bots to generate fake clicks on an ad, or fake visits on a website generating the ad, according to analytics firm Adjust.
Globally, fake users or bots made up for more than half the number of ad frauds, followed by software development kit (SDK) spoofing and click injections, the report noted.
SDK spoofing is a sophisticated type of fraud which involves simulating real installs through malware or botnets. This method remained most popular in the Latin America region, and most prevalent in food and business-related apps.
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Fake user fraud occurred most in South Korea, making up more than 80% of total fraud. Fraud rates in gaming increased more than 170% on average between August 2019 and August 2020, with the U.S. nearly 310% in the same period, the firm noted.
Click injections and click spam were the two most common methods used to cheat users in entertainment apps.
Fake organic metrics also surged this year as fraudsters faked organic traffic in addition to paid installs. These installs can compromise data integrity, fooling users to waste their ad spend on the wrong marketing activities, the firm stated.
