what is ad fraud

Ad fraud is the practice of fraudulently representing online advertisement impressions, clicks, conversion or data events in order to generate revenue. Ad fraud is particularly popular among cybercriminals and can be committed through a variety of methods, including bots, fake social accounts, falsified cookies, and fake traffic. Ad fraud can be categorized into two main types: device-driven fraud and content-driven fraud. Some common types of ad fraud include click fraud, impression fraud, conversion fraud, and app install fraud. Ad fraud is a major issue for digital ad networks and advertisers, with an estimated $44 billion lost to ad fraud in 2022. To prevent ad fraud, marketers can rely on third-party ad fraud prevention tools.