An introduction to mobile ad fraud and some strategies for pre-empting it through thoughtful contract negotiation

1. The Business End
of Mobile Ad Fraud
Eric Benjamin Seufert
Partner, Heracles

2. Who I am
Partner,
Heracles
Owner,
Mobile Dev Memo
Author,
Freemium Economics

3. What is Mobile Ad Fraud?

4. What is Mobile Ad Fraud?
Breach of Contract Deception
● Terms of IO violated;
● Traffic sent, but it is
not according to the
terms of the contract.
● Real traffic not sent;
● IO requirements
fulfilled via falsified
traffic signaling.

5. What is Mobile Ad Fraud?
Deception
● Re-brokering;
● Creative manipulation;
● Non adherence to device /
geography limitations;
● “Click stuffing”;
● Web Redirects.
Breach of Contract
● Bot installs;
● “Click spamming”.

6. How does this affect
developers?
● Developers pay for traffic that doesn’t exist
or isn’t what they wanted;
● Developers spend time / resources clawing
back refunds.

7. Fraud Recognition

8. Fraud Recognition
Unknown Unknowns

9. Fraud Recognition
Unknown Unknowns
Known Unknowns

10. Fraud Recognition
Unknown Unknowns
Known Unknowns
Opportunity Cost

11. Fraud Recognition
No Solution
“Business” Solution
Technology Solution

12. Fraud Recognition
“Business” Solution
Technology Solution
No Solution

13. Pre-empting Fraud

14. Pre-empting Fraud
● Signaling;

15. Pre-empting Fraud
● Signaling;
● IO quality stipulations;

16. Pre-empting Fraud
● Signaling;
● IO quality stipulations;
● Early warning triggers.

17. Signaling

18. Signaling
● Being obviously aware of ad fraud will force
networks to be more vigilant in preventing
fraudulent / inappropriate traffic.

19. IO Quality Stipulations

20. IO Quality Stipulations
● Setting clear quality thresholds on cohorts
and refusing to pay for traffic that doesn’t
conform (eg. <25% Day One Retention,
<80% download / install, etc.).

21. Early Warning Triggers

22. Early Warning Triggers
● Creating an early warning system around
traffic quality and notifying networks to
immediately pause campaigns.

23. Clawing Back Money

24. Clawing Back Money
● Proof of fraud;

25. Clawing Back Money
● Proof of fraud;
● Agreed-upon terms;

26. Clawing Back Money
● Proof of fraud;
● Agreed-upon terms;
● Persistence;

27. http://hrcls.co
hi@hrcls.co