What is Click Fraud?
Click fraud is the practice of artificially inflating the number of clicks on pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. This can be done manually by individuals or automatically using bots and scripts, with the goal of either draining a competitor's ad budget or generating illegitimate revenue for publishers.
In mobile advertising, click fraud takes many sophisticated forms, from click injection to SDK spoofing, costing the industry billions annually.
Industry Impact
Mobile ad fraud costs the industry $84+ billion annually, with click fraud representing a significant portion. Some campaigns see fraud rates exceeding 40% without proper protection.
Types of Click Fraud
| Type | Method | Detection Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Click Spam | Mass background clicks hoping to match organic installs | Medium |
| Click Injection | Detects app install, injects click milliseconds before | Medium-Hard |
| Bot Clicks | Automated scripts simulating human clicks | Easy-Medium |
| Click Farms | Human workers clicking ads manually | Hard |
| SDK Spoofing | Fake clicks generated without real devices | Hard |
| Device Farms | Real devices automated to generate clicks | Very Hard |
Click Fraud Indicators
- Abnormal CTR: Click-through rates significantly above benchmarks
- Low Conversion: High clicks but minimal post-click actions
- Geographic Anomalies: Traffic from unexpected regions
- Click-to-Install Time: Unusually fast or suspiciously consistent
- Device Patterns: Same device IDs generating multiple clicks
- Time Clustering: Clicks concentrated in unusual patterns
Detection Methods
Statistical Analysis
- Analyze click timestamps for anomalies
- Compare CTR against historical baselines
- Monitor conversion rates by source
- Track click-to-install time (CTIT) distribution
Behavioral Analysis
- Evaluate post-install engagement patterns
- Compare user behavior to organic benchmarks
- Analyze session depth and retention
- Monitor in-app purchase patterns
Pro Tip: CTIT Analysis
Click-to-Install Time (CTIT) distribution is a powerful fraud indicator. Organic users typically install within a normal distribution, while click injection shows artificially short times (under 10 seconds).
Prevention Strategies
- Use MMP Fraud Prevention: AppsFlyer Protect360, Adjust, Singular
- Set Validation Rules: Reject suspicious patterns automatically
- Monitor in Real-Time: Catch fraud before it scales
- Verify Traffic Sources: Audit publisher quality regularly
- Analyze Post-Install: Low-quality traffic shows low engagement
- Implement SDK Security: Prevent SDK spoofing attacks
Anti-Fraud Solutions
| Solution | Type | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| AppsFlyer Protect360 | MMP Built-in | Real-time blocking, ML detection |
| Adjust Fraud Prevention | MMP Built-in | CTIT filtering, distribution modeling |
| Singular Fraud Prevention | MMP Built-in | Deterministic + probabilistic detection |
| TrafficGuard | Third-party | Multi-layer verification |