How to Prevent Ad Fraud Before and During the Holiday Season?

Billions of dollars are lost every year in mobile ad fraud, advertisers’ budgets are wasted and ad performance is curtailed. Experts predict that the costs associated with online fraud will reach $100 billion in 2023, a huge jump from 35 billion in 2018.

However, we are approaching the holiday season step by step together. It is well known that the period just before the holiday season is a value-added period for marketers. Because customers are waiting at the door to buy a variety of products and services in preparation for the holiday season. The effects of mobile ad fraud can be especially painful during the holiday season, as companies spend significant effort and money on marketing activities, while customers tend to spend more. But while we are dealing with the holiday season this year, we must also consider the stagnation of the world economy. Although the holiday season is foreseen as a period of increased expenditures, there is no doubt that the economic recession will have a say on these expenditures. Customers will focus on the value of every dollar spent. That being the case, it would be beneficial for both customers and marketers to be extra vigilant about mobile ad fraud this year. After all, it’s now become their ritual for scammers to ramp up their activity before the holiday season.

Fraud is much more deceptive in recent years than in past years, and it reaches users in more ways than ever before. The FTC reported 2.8 million fraud reports from consumers in 2021 alone. This means that fraud losses have increased by 70% compared to 2020.

With a few things to consider before and during the holiday period, you can protect yourself and your customers against possible mobile advertising fraud. Here are the steps that we wish to be useful and applicable:

Prioritize Privacy

The logic is very simple. If your passwords are easy for you, they are easy for a criminal. Having strong and unique passwords of at least 12 characters, using random numbers for pins, and taking advantage of extra security are the most basic steps to ensure privacy. Besides, don’t forget to enable multi-factor authentication on your various apps and accounts. These steps will protect you from potential threats.

Verify or Eliminate

The potential threat you encounter can reach you via email, text message, phone call, or a screen that appears while shopping. In such a case, try to verify the information you have been exposed to. If you can’t confirm the information is correct or confirm the sender’s validity, block the phone number or email address in question and report it as spam or junk mail.

Do Not Fall for Cheap Deals

Oftentimes, cheap ad traffic deals correspond to pervasive ad fraud. You should be aware of cheap cheats that often backfire.

Evaluate Your Available Resources

Take advantage of the basic anti-fraud security measures offered by your mobile operator. These services include advanced caller ID, fraudulent ID, and options that flag suspicious calls and offer customers the opportunity to block these numbers.

Use an Anti-Fraud Solution

All the items we mentioned above are of course actions that can be taken with a basic level of awareness. And believe us, awareness is a very important concept to break the chain of fraud. However, in mobile fraud, basic-level measures and manual solutions are often insufficient. Especially in frauds for advertising campaigns, manual analysis and monitoring of your ad campaign can be time-consuming and costly. With Interceptd, you can detect and prevent ad fraud in real-time.

Rely on Trusted Partners

Finally, you need to evaluate your partners well to ensure they can serve you reliably as your ad campaigns progress pre-holiday and during the holiday season. You should make sure that your partner instantly detects fraudulent activity and can prevent it.

Understanding how and the nature of potential cyber threats and mobile ad scams will help you stay protected this holiday season and beyond. Request a demo from Interceptd for a more effective and sustainable solution. You’ll see your holiday season campaigns perform upward when you protect your ads from fraud.