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How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

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Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#31

Post by chatmasta »

BonesJustice wrote: post #5
jaclaz wrote: post #3

I seems to me that - besides the specific fraud scheme in the article - there is something else to be worried about. From the article: >The revelation of this scheme shows just how deeply fraud is embedded in the digital advertising ecosystem, the vast sums being stolen from brands, and the overall failure of the industry to stop it. And, more relevant: >Pixalate’s latest analysis of in-app fraud found that 23% of al…

I think those buying advertising know that the ad networks' metrics are hopelessly broken, that fraud is rampant, and that their actual impressions are far less than reported. But the problem is pervasive and spans the entire ad industry, so what are they to do, other than throw in as much money as possible and hope for the best? I recently saw a comment (can't remember where) from someone involved in an advertising…

Really the only people hurt are those buying, eg Google stock based on ad impression numbers. The advertisers have already priced the fraud into their bidding. Other than that, the only people who care about impression numbers are google investors. Even then, they’re probably more concerned with the aggregate ad spend, which is likely unrelated to the percentage of fraud since it’s more a result of marketing budget than anything else.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#32

Post by anonymous5133 »

jaclaz wrote: post #3

I seems to me that - besides the specific fraud scheme in the article - there is something else to be worried about. From the article: >The revelation of this scheme shows just how deeply fraud is embedded in the digital advertising ecosystem, the vast sums being stolen from brands, and the overall failure of the industry to stop it. And, more relevant: >Pixalate’s latest analysis of in-app fraud found that 23% of al…

It just gets priced in. If the ads were 100% effective then the price per impression would be higher.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#33

Post by z3t4 »

sdossick wrote: post #20
z3t4 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically all "spyware" traffic is encrypted, you can however see which IP's users of your network connects to (and some meta-data such as domain name, protocol and hand-shakes) using for example Wireshark or tcpdump. My guess is that the fraud is detected by monitoring the traffic on the ad server, see that a "impression" is registered from their test phone's IP, and by looking at the phone they affirm that no ad wa…

It is functionally trivial to rotate IPs from the "test phones". There are shady brokers who will sell you Residential IP-based proxy servers (hacked home machines which will proxy your calls and make them appear to come from homes all around the world).

I mean in an audit, the test person can install the app on a device he/she has physical access to. And conclude that his/her phone was registered on the ad agency logs, yet no ad where shown. The fraudsters could however make it so the phone only sends fake impressions after a certain amount of engagement, so that audit/test person would have to play "my little pony" eg the child game - for one week ...

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#34

Post by janesvilleseo »

da02 wrote: post #27
rayvy wrote: post #21

As someone who works monitoring ad network traffic at a large ad-tech company (not FAANG, but just below), let me just say: everyone does fraud . Some don't need as much of it (e.g., Google), but quite literally saying "there's fraud in my online traffic" is like saying "there's tomato sauce in my spaghetti". It's quite literally such a normal thing that I've become immune to even getting roused by it (and remember,…

What kind of fraud does Google do?

It’s not that they do it. It’s that they allow it. Not outright, but they don’t go out of their way to suppress/stop it anymore more than anybody else.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#36

Post by ThrustVectoring »

jaclaz wrote: post #3

I seems to me that - besides the specific fraud scheme in the article - there is something else to be worried about. From the article: >The revelation of this scheme shows just how deeply fraud is embedded in the digital advertising ecosystem, the vast sums being stolen from brands, and the overall failure of the industry to stop it. And, more relevant: >Pixalate’s latest analysis of in-app fraud found that 23% of al…

>So, hypothetically, if these frauds would be completely eradicated and the companies would continue to invest the same amount of money in ads, we are doomed to see 20-25% more ads than we do now.

Nope. Advertisers would charge their clients 20-25% more to serve us ads. Digital ads are like real estate - every available piece gets rented out at some price, because otherwise it'll sit empty and make no money instead. The only question is what price is market-clearing: quantity of ads served is completely irrelevant.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#37

Post by canadapups »

janesvilleseo wrote: post #34
da02 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of fraud does Google do?

It’s not that they do it. It’s that they allow it. Not outright, but they don’t go out of their way to suppress/stop it anymore more than anybody else.

When it comes to email spam or fake email accounts, Google not only allows it, they enable it. One scammer can setup thousands of gmail accounts and google doesn't blink an eye. Gmail also allows "scammer+1@gmail.com" and "scammer+2@gmail" to be the same account. I've reported obvious gmail abuse to Google through their channels, but nothing. Same scammer keeps coming back with new email accounts.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#38

Post by paulie_a »

ucaetano wrote: post #13
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they perfectly know that more than 1/5 of their ads expense is having "null" results but overall they are ok to spend the 100% price for less than 80% "real" impressions Don't ad companies charge fees as a function of spend? The chumps in this chain are (a) shareholders and (b) the managers hiring the agencies. (Counterfactual: if this spend is that useless, it should be possible to start a competitor that focuses…

> Counterfactual: if this spend is that useless, it should be possible to start a competitor that focuses on high-ROI advertising. Exactly! And that's where online ads, user tracking, online-to-offline came in. The whole reason why it gained so much traction in the past 20 years is that it began to offer better tracking and results than other forms of advertising. If Google (or Facebook, or anyone else) stands still…

Then why are online ads today just as useless and dumb as they were 29 years ago?

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#39

Post by milesskorpen »

rayvy wrote: post #21

As someone who works monitoring ad network traffic at a large ad-tech company (not FAANG, but just below), let me just say: everyone does fraud . Some don't need as much of it (e.g., Google), but quite literally saying "there's fraud in my online traffic" is like saying "there's tomato sauce in my spaghetti". It's quite literally such a normal thing that I've become immune to even getting roused by it (and remember,…

Beyond this, ad spend ASSUMES some level of fraud. It's baked into your ROI numbers, at least for performance advertising.

Probably the main people getting stiffed are the publishers who are offering real traffic, and getting a smaller share of dollars relative to the incremental value they deliver.

Re: How a Massive Ad Fraud Scheme Exploited Android Phones to Steal Millions

#40

Post by Scoundreller »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #28
jaclaz wrote: post #3

I seems to me that - besides the specific fraud scheme in the article - there is something else to be worried about. From the article: >The revelation of this scheme shows just how deeply fraud is embedded in the digital advertising ecosystem, the vast sums being stolen from brands, and the overall failure of the industry to stop it. And, more relevant: >Pixalate’s latest analysis of in-app fraud found that 23% of al…

#2 is true but not exactly for the reason you specify, basically every company I've ever dealt with has an advertising budget, they spend it and they monitor how much they spend and how sales change based on that (and ad types and ad channels etc). If you have ever seen an advertisement for a Data Scientist at an online retailer this is what they will do, day in and day out. As long as the revenue gain (and resulting…

For the advertiser, yes.

But for the legit publishers, they’re all getting 80% of what they should have been earning. That’s less legit content for consumers.

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