Considering the rise in advertising fraud, it has become difficult for businesses to identify genuine and fake online interests. Businesses struggle to find whether they are getting actual clicks or the associated marketers’ trick. With many counterfeit marketing agencies getting into fraudulent activities to grab businesses’ attention, it’s a concern for many businesses.
As many have experienced the loss of money due to these click fraud, we thought of discussing this with Faisal Abidi, Co-Founder of RNF Technologies. It is a company that provides creative solutions, digital products, online marketing, and web/app development solutions to global businesses. We asked him to highlight the warning signs of ad fraud and how cybercriminals conduct this scam with the help of humans or bots. Let’s dive deeper into the fraud ad clicks that have become a new mode of earning for fraudsters.
Understanding Click Fraud With RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi
Click fraud is basically conducted to boost the site’s revenue or use the budget of the advertising company. It happens with PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising either with the help of humans or bots that click on paid ads without any buying intention, shares RNF Technologies’ Faisal Abidi.
Many businesses host advertising campaigns for their ads which are paid based on visitors. That means the payment of advertising companies will depend on the number of people reaching the website via ad clicks. Click fraud occurs when an ad is clicked without any buying purpose but for the sake of clicking. Many fraudsters even automate programs to ensure human-like clicks or interactions on the website. Faisal Abidi, Head of Phonato Studios, the product development arm of RNF Technologies, underlines that fraudsters have diverse reasons for conducting click frauds.
Reasons For Click Frauds Highlighted By Phonato Studios’ Faisal Abidi
- Monetary Gains From Clients
Some cyber criminals indulge in fake clicks for monetary gains as businesses pay them based on the number of visitors. They use illicit activities like involving bots or even human teams to make legitimate-looking clicks on the ad and browse the host’s website to earn their share. Since they have no intention of buying anything, they just make it look like they are interested. This fulfils the criteria for fraudsters’ payment without actually boosting the client’s business.
- Lessen The Competition
Many fraudsters look for ways to impact their competitor’s ad budget by targeting their budget with fake clicks. By indulging in click frauds, the fraudsters try to exhaust the other advertiser’s budget without giving them any valuable leads. The purpose of the clicks is not to convert but to spend the budget, spotlights Phonato Studios’ Faisal Abidi. It creates chaos between the host and the advertising company, and thus the host looks for another advertising company. Then the fraudsters approach them to offer their services.
- Gain Counterfeit Reputation
Sometimes, businesses get involved in click frauds to gain a counterfeit reputation in the marketplace or higher google rankings. It creates a good impression among other people about the business, and more people look forward to adopting it. By presenting these click-through rates, i.e., a ratio of users clicking on a specific ad to the total number of users who viewed the ad. The purpose of click fraud in this scenario is to boost the click-through rate, increase the search engine ranking, and get more real users to visit the page.
Key Takeaways
Considering these varied types of click fraud, Faisal Abidi of Phonato Studios suggests that businesses constantly check advertising budgets, ask for weekly reports, analyze the pattern of clicks and purchases, and verify the company before relying on them their budgets. Avoid falling for fake promises and results, as they are usually too good to believe, and that’s the primary way to identify fraud!