Click Spamming in Online Advertising

What is Click Spamming?

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Click spamming, also known as click flooding, is a type of mobile ad fraud in which fraudsters sends fake clicks on advertisements, installs or downloads, or even impressions, visits, or views on websites through infected mobile apps or websites. Here, the mobile user, or the owner is unaware that a malicious app has been installed on their device. The app would then spam clicks on advertisements on the smartphone, giving the impression that the ad has had a lot of traffic. Advertisers may see clicks or impressions as beneficial, but in reality, they are distorted statistics.

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How does Click Spamming work?

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Also known as click flooding or organic poaching, click spam is a type of advertising fraud that happens when a fraudster executes clicks for users who haven't made them.

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1. User downloads malicious publisher’s app.

2. The malicious app contains a code that generates a large number of clicks (spam clicking) on adverts.

3. The malicious app hijacks user's device, loading hundreds of ads in the phone’s background and triggering automated click events for each ad.

4. Click event may redirect user to the app store.

5. Advertiser attributes credit to malicious publisher, even though they provided no value in driving the install, and pays them a percentage of revenue.