{"id":7832,"date":"2026-10-22T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/glossary\/ad-fraud\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T17:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:30:04","slug":"ad-fraud","status":"publish","type":"mona_glossary","link":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/glossary\/ad-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Ad fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

What is ad fraud?<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Google Play classifies ad fraud as a form of invalid traffic (IVT)<\/a> (Google Play Console Help, Ad Fraud, accessed October 2026<\/a>). 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.<\/p>\n

Types of ad fraud<\/h2>\n

Each type targets a different way of charging for ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Group<\/th>\nWhat the fraud targets<\/th>\nCommon schemes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Web and programmatic<\/td>\nImpressions and clicks bought through ad exchanges<\/td>\nBots<\/a>, domain spoofing<\/a>, ad stacking<\/a>, pixel stuffing<\/a>, ad injection<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pay-per-click ads<\/td>\nCost per click (CPC)<\/td>\nClick fraud<\/a>, click farms<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apps and MMP attribution<\/td>\nInstalls and in-app events<\/td>\nInstall fraud<\/a>, SDK spoofing<\/a>, phone farms<\/a>, click flooding<\/a>, click injection<\/a>, click hijacking<\/a>, click redirection<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Leads<\/td>\nCost per lead (CPL)<\/td>\nLead fraud<\/a>, incentivized traffic<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Affiliate<\/td>\nCommission on sales<\/td>\nCookie stuffing<\/a> (affiliate fraud)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/a> distribution. Malvertising<\/a> is a special case: ads are used to spread malware, and the main victim is the user rather than the budget.<\/p>\n

Warning signs<\/h2>\n

Fake traffic rarely shows up in a single metric. Look at several at once:<\/p>\n