Ad fraud

Ad fraud is any activity that generates impressions, clicks, app installs, leads, or conversions that do not come from people with real interest, or that steals credit for real conversions, in order to take money from advertising budgets. Google Play defines it as ad interactions generated to trick an ad network into believing traffic comes from authentic user interest.

What is ad fraud?

Fraudulent websites and apps earn money on impressions and clicks. Ad networks and affiliates earn money per install (CPI) or per action (CPA). Sometimes it is simply a competitor clicking your ads to burn through your budget.

Google Play classifies ad fraud as a form of invalid traffic (IVT) (Google Play Console Help, Ad Fraud, accessed October 2026). IVT is broader: Google Ads also counts accidental clicks, such as those caused by ads placed too close to navigation buttons, even when nobody meant to cheat.

Types of ad fraud

Each type targets a different way of charging for ads.

App fraud goes in two directions. One creates fake installs with emulators, phone farms, or spoofed SDK signals. The other steals credit for real installs, which shows up in the CTIT distribution. Malvertising is a special case: ads are used to spread malware, and the main victim is the user rather than the budget.

Warning signs

Fake traffic rarely shows up in a single metric. Look at several at once:

• An unusually high CTR with almost no sales or leads.
• One placement, site ID, or sub-publisher accounts for most installs.
• The time from click to app open is extremely short, or spread evenly across many days.
• Leads with duplicate or badly formatted phone numbers, or numbers nobody answers.

A traffic spike is not proof of fraud: seasonality or a budget increase you just made can also push clicks up (Google Ads Help, About invalid traffic, accessed October 2026).

How to prevent ad fraud

1. Read the platform’s filtering data. Google Ads removes invalid clicks before it invoices you, and if it finds them later, it credits you through an “Invalid activity” adjustment. Add the Invalid clicks column to keep an eye on it. If you suspect something slipped through, request an investigation for activity in the last 60 days.
2. Buy programmatic only from authorized sellers. Check a site’s or app’s ads.txt and app-ads.txt before buying.
3. Optimize for deeper events. Pay for and optimize toward purchases, qualified leads, and retention instead of clicks or installs.
4. Add an independent layer of measurement. The Media Rating Council (MRC) requires accredited measurement companies to filter GIVT, while SIVT filtering is only encouraged. When the campaign’s measurement company filters GIVT only, buyers are encouraged to add SIVT detection through a third party (MRC, IVT Standards Addendum, June 2020).

Illustrative example (hypothetical)

A shop spends VND 100 million on display ads at a CPC of VND 5,000 and gets 20,000 clicks. If 15% of that is unfiltered bot traffic, 3,000 clicks, or VND 15 million, are simply lost. On top of that, the system pushes more budget toward the bot-heavy placements because their CTR looks great.

Frequently asked questions

Is click fraud by competitors a type of ad fraud?

Yes. It is click fraud, one branch of ad fraud. Google Ads lists competitors who click manually to drive up your spend as invalid traffic. In Vietnam, people call this “click tặc”.

If I only run Google and Facebook ads, do I still need to worry?

Yes. The big platforms filter invalid clicks, but Google’s filters cannot stop fake leads submitted through forms on your website.

If you want to review your traffic sources and how conversions are measured for a lead or app campaign, contact Adtek.