Ad fraud refers to any deliberate attempt to deceive digital advertising platforms for financial gain. It typically involves fake clicks, impressions, or conversions that make it appear as if ads are performing when they’re not being seen by real potential customers.
According to a Juniper Research report, global advertisers are expected to lose over $100 billion annually to ad fraud by 2025.
Here are the most common forms of ad fraud:
This occurs when an ad is clicked fraudulently—either by bots or humans—without any intention of engaging with the brand. The goal is to inflate advertising costs or drain a competitor’s budget.
Example: A competitor hires a click farm to repeatedly click your Google Ads, wasting your daily budget.
Here, fraudsters use bots or stacked ads (where multiple ads are layered on top of each other) to fake ad impressions and boost revenue from CPM (cost-per-thousand-impression) campaigns.
Even signups or purchases can be faked using scripts or incentivised traffic, tricking marketers into thinking their campaigns are working when they’re not.
Fraudsters pretend to be reputable websites to get higher CPMs. This is common in programmatic display where placements are often automated.
Read more on types of ad fraud from Integral Ad Science.
Wasted Budget: Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar that could’ve gone to real customers.
Distorted Metrics: Fraudulent data skews CTRs, conversion rates, and ROI metrics.
Poor Optimization: It misleads platforms like Google Ads, causing them to favour non-performing keywords or placements.
Fighting ad fraud is about technology, vigilance, and continuous optimization. Here are industry-recommended practices:
Tools like ClickCease, Lunio, or CHEQ specialize in identifying and blocking fake clicks in real time. They work seamlessly with Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Bing.
Google Ads automatically filters some invalid clicks, but you can also manually add IP exclusions, geo-targeting restrictions, and use campaign-level exclusions.
Google’s official help guide on invalid clicks
Use analytics tools (like Google Analytics or ClickCease) to monitor for unusual patterns—such as multiple clicks from a single IP address or sudden spikes in bounce rates.
Measuring real downstream metrics—like purchases or leads—helps you spot campaigns with high traffic but no value, a sign of fraud.
If you run programmatic display ads, regularly update your site placement blacklists. Use ads.txt files on your domain to authorize trusted inventory.
Learn how to use ads.txt
Stick to reputable networks that offer transparency in reporting and use 3rd-party fraud detection integrations. Avoid “too good to be true” traffic sources.
Ad fraud is constantly evolving—but so are the tools to fight it. The most effective marketers take a proactive and data-driven approach: they monitor traffic, block suspicious activity, and use AI-driven tools to safeguard every click and conversion.
If you’re running high-spend campaigns, investing in click fraud protection is not optional—it’s essential.
Further Reading:
The Ultimate Guide to Click Fraud – WordStream
Ad Fraud Report by Juniper Research