The world of online advertising is an alluring one to fraudsters. Indeed, the impersonal nature of the transactions, a complex and often-opaque supply chain, and reliance on easily-fiddled metrics make ad fraud more common and also a big challenge among several marketers, publishers, and ad-tech enterprises alike today. One of the most difficult challenges around digital mobile fraud is that no one really knows exactly how big a problem it is, with estimates ranging from high…to higher…to stratospheric. According to an Ad Fraud India survey by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), though 22 percent of mobile ad spends falls victim to ad fraud, exploring new technologies to check it is not in the eyes of many marketer's agenda. In this article, we shall come to know about Why does mobile ad fraud occur Types of mobile ad fraud How to fight mobile ad fraud Final Words Why does mobile ad fraud happen? It looks like a target opportunity to make money easily and hastily through illegal means. There are 2 key factors driving the frauds rising today: The mobile content is much slower production where both audience and advertisers demands are increasing on a daily basis, which creates an opportunity for fraudsters to utilise. There is a lack of industrial action in assessing frauds that implies a criminal is less likely to be caught and can still act with impunity. Mobile ad fraud requires wholesale industry co-ordination. All the people committed to fraud are aware of the flaws in the production and execution system, which is why they have complete information about using the glitched areas. What are the types of Mobile Ad Frauds? Many mobile advertisers have seen large fraud operations up to approximately 80 percent of marketing budgets for soft KPI driven campaigns. Here is a list of common frauds known today. 1. IVT: Short for invalid traffic, IVT is any traffic not coming from real users. We can see that the principality of mobile advertising is followed by IVT which is designed to look like human activity. Within the general niche of IVT, there are two general categories: GIVT (general IVT) and SIVT (sophisticated IVT). SIVT is designed to be human-like, often for criminal purposes. 2. Click Injection: Also sometimes called click sniping, click injection is particularly prevalent in campaigns measured through last-click attribution. Many mobile measurement experts at several platforms claim to be the common app for frauds. 3. Click Replacement: In last click attribution, the user click/search is open watched upon by malware and adware, once the user decides to download a particular mobile application, a click is pushed to replace existing click of organic/other publisher users. 4. Click Spamming: With click spamming, fraudsters send a whole bunch of fake reports in the hopes that one of them is accepted as legitimate. Whenever you clock on a denial-of-service attack, the target of click spamming is to simply welcome the anti-fraud systems on the right side. Many people also know it as click flooding, and it took the growth for about 16 percent of all app installed fraud in between 2017 and 2018. 5. Ad Stacking: In this type of fraud scheme, multiple ads are displayed all at once, one on top of the other. This allows an unscrupulous publisher or another involved partner to say that they technically served an ad and should receive payment for serving the said ad, even though the ad was never technically visible. This type of fraud can be a real big problem for many brand awareness campaigns. 6. App Spoofing: App spoofing is also known as domain spoofing in the technical world, a fraudster will send a request that he is the ultimate owner and publisher allowing them to unlawfully get demand from advertisers. 7. Background Ad Activity: This describes scenarios in which ads are served completely out of view of legitimate end-users. An advertisement is playing in the background but none of the people is aware of it. This is how the fraudster can still be able to charge from you even when none of the people has seen the ad. How to fight mobile ad fraud? Mobile ad fraud today is responsible for flushing down billions of dollars in marketing budgets all across the globe. When we discuss the fraud’s true effect, we must understand all parts to properly evaluate the threats of the online industry’s biggest danger. There are some fraud tactics like malicious bots or device farms that directly have an effect on marketing camps by using advertising resources on unreal users who give zero value. But there are some indirect consequences that give a potentially bigger threat as long-term aftermath affect which impacts user devices and privacy leading to reputation or financial loss. Responsible marketers must pay visits and find time to get knowledge of fraud tactics and mindset to properly approach the issue. Marketing Fraud operations are often seen as a viable business today and their planning and execution eventually helps them get a smarter understanding of how to cope with the solution. Final Words Understanding the common fraud tactics, technological applications, and industry susceptibilities that allow fraud to blossom can help turn the situation on internal and external initiatives. They will help in decreasing the cases that are touching the sky now. Author: Auhsini Das About Her: With a Data Science degree from IIT Madras, Aushini enrich audience with her high quality tech articles. Having +5 years of experience in content writing, She work passionately to create copy that converts, with a focus on maintaining your authentic brand voice.

Pandemic: A new opportunity for fraudsters In the past year, the pandemic has massively changed the ways we work, bank, and shop through digitalisation. But with increasing shifts towards digitalisation during the pandemic, it has created new opportunities for the fraudsters to get sensitive and private information of users. Fraudsters are rapidly evolving and expanding their attacks, taking advantage of the panic and confusion generated by COVID-19's chaotic social and economic situation. People all over the world are becoming more reliant on the internet, which is opening up new doors for many fraudsters as companies and individuals are not keeping their cyber defences up to date. According to estimates, phishing is the most popular attack tool, accounting for 43 percent of all attacks carried out by fraudsters in the last quarter. Brand bullying accounted for 35% of their assaults, up 13% from the previous quarter. Based on these two forms of threats, it's obvious that scammers are constantly looking for new ways to infiltrate our professional and personal lives by sending carefully designed messages that seem to be from trusted brands or manipulate pandemic-themed events and needs. Types of cyber frauds: According to a report by INTERPOL, some of the key assessment of the cybercrime landscape in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic include: Disruptive Malware (Ransomware and DDoS) - Because of the opportunity for high impact and financial gain, cybercriminals are constantly using malicious malware against sensitive infrastructure and healthcare organizations. Multiple threat organizations that had been largely inactive for a few months, launched a wave of ransomware attacks in the first two weeks of April 2020. According to law enforcement investigations, the majority of criminals measured the maximum amount of ransom they could seek from targeted organizations. Misinformation - Misinformation and false news are circulating at an alarming rate among the general population. Unverified intelligence, a lack of understanding of risks, and conspiracy theories have both led to community fear and, in some situations, aided the execution of cyberattacks. Malicious Domains - Cybercriminals have been acquiring domain names containing keywords such as "coronavirus" or "COVID" to take advantage of the increased demand for medical supplies and information on COVID-19. These phony websites are used to support a wide range of malicious operations, such as C2 servers, malware distribution, and phishing. Between February and March 2020, there was a 569 percent increase in malicious registrations, such as ransomware and phishing, and a 788 percent increase in high-risk registrations. and reported to INTERPOL by a private sector partner. Data Harvesting Malware - Cybercriminals are increasingly using data mining malware such as Remote Access Trojan, knowledge stealers, ransomware, and banking Trojans. Cybercriminals penetrate systems using COVID-19-related knowledge as bait to access networks, steal data, redirect resources, and create botnets. Phishing and Online Scams: The regular web scams and phishing schemes have been modified by malicious attackers. Cybercriminals leverage COVID-19-themed phishing emails to entice victims into providing sensitive information and uploading harmful material by spoofing government and health officials. What do stats say: Statistics say that there has been a massive increase in cyber frauds in the last year. Let’s look at some of those:- According to the FBI, the number of cyberattack reports received by their Cyber Division has increased to as much as 4,000 a day. That's a 400% rise from what they were doing before the coronavirus. The annual report of the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center is already posted. The 2020 Internet Crime Study contains data from 791,790 alleged internet crime cases, a rise of more than 300,000 complaints from the previous year, and estimated damages of more than $4.2 billion. Phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion were the top three crimes reported by victims in 2020. Business email compromise scams, romance and confidence schemes, and investment fraud all cost victims the most money. In particular, scams based on the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020. Over 28,500 complaints were filed with the IC3(Internet Crime Complaint Center) regarding COVID-19, with fraudsters targeting both businesses and individuals. Although attackers often used tried-and-true techniques like phishing and identity compromise to unleash their attacks, the total number of attacks was truly staggering, catching many people off guard, ignorant, and unprepared. In March 2020, TechRepublic recorded a 667 percent surge in spear-phishing attacks, and the FBI registered a 400 percent spike in cyber attacks by April. How to protect yourself from cyber crimes during the pandemic Be cautious while installing apps:- If you need to work from home during this period, you will find that you are missing some of the applications you use to complete your tasks. However, installing this app on your own will put you and your company at risk. Forcing users to download malware with fake software download files is a common criminal tactic. Instead, reach out to your IT department for assistance, since they may have a list of suggested download locations or ways to provide you with secure access. Any unusual email should be viewed with a fair amount of skepticism:- When you receive emails from companies you know, you will feel more comfortable opening them. However, it's important to note that cybercriminals use models from reputable outlets to trick users into clicking links to malware-delivering websites, which are intended to entice you to make a purchase or disclose login information. Protect your passwords:- When it comes to cyber-security, the value of a strong password cannot be overstated. Although using something with a capital letter, a number, and a special character is a nice way to start, it isn't enough. While it is easy to recall a single password for all, cybercriminals may take advantage of this convenience. Note- If you are fooled by a spam email that directs you to a website that asks you to create an account with your email address and password, never do that. This is a simple way of accessing your personal information. Keep your gadgets secure:- If you're using your own computer or one provided by your boss, make sure to use caution to keep it secure both physically and digitally. To guard against viruses and ransomware, make sure you have an active antivirus installed. To protect your internet behavior, use a protected Internet connection and store work laptops and phones securely while not in use.

In this age of competition when everyone is trying to sell their product, giving out discounts only seems a plausible option to sustain. The prices of consumer items are already inflated and coupons are given out to increase sales. One must question what exactly is meant by extreme couponing and have we been doing it sub- consciously? Coupon fraud may be defined as whenever someone intentionally uses a coupon for a product he/she did not purchase or a product that does not meet the refund terms and conditions, when a retailer submits a coupon for a product that has not been sold or has not been fully redeemed by the relevant consumer Retail purchase; or when coupons are altered/forged. To understand this type of fraud we will look at an example, to simplify things. One of the extreme coupon user used coupons in the program to save on other items, even items that coupons are not suitable for. For example, you have a 75 cent Fiberone grain coupon and use it for Fiberone to purchase honey nuts, Cheerios, Kix, and lucky charms during the promotion period. They paid for the coupon when they bought the $ 100 coupon and received a coupon for a free mixed transaction. The coupon should indicate which product it applies to and how to use it on the product. The store cannot refund the coupon, so the coupon policy is very strict to prevent this type of fraud. The coupon should contain information about the specific product for which the coupon is used. If users want to use more than four coupons, they must purchase all day. If you do not purchase, you may need to print out coupons and take them to the physical store. If a retailer submits a coupon for a product they do not sell, and does not redeem the coupon when the consumer purchases a specific product, submitting the coupon is fraudulent by the retailer. If consumers use coupons for their products, if the store sends the coupons in accordance with the manufacturer's coupon policy, the manufacturer will compensate the store. Coupon fraud increases user costs and makes it harder for genuine and honest consumers to use coupons. Not only have the customers who use the coupons committed coupon fraud, but also the merchants who accept the coupons. When looking at coupon fraud, prosecutors incline to aim at people who make tons of money by accepting, using, or making deceitful coupons, but this does not mean that if their fake use is unintended, you are safe. In some cases, people didn't even realize they were using fake coupons and ended up engaging in coupon scams. The best way to protect yourself from allegations of fraud is to read the terms and conditions of the coupons you use to make sure you actually use them. Be sure to check the coupon policy of your store, because many have very strict regulations (when you see something on My CouponFraud.com this is great, but I assure you that most stores have changed them Coupon policy. Coupons). As discussed in this article, the coupon industry is struggling with extreme coupons and many fraudulent methods developed by consumers using coupons for their own financial gain. Coupon fraud can lead to hefty fines and even imprisonment, depending on the extreme degree of fraud. Coupon fraud will be punished and penalties vary from case to case, but Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) said the most serious convictions for coupon fraud include up to 17 years of jail time and monetary fines up to $ 5 million. There have been several cases where people were sentenced to long prison terms and large-scale fines due to coupon fraud, but ordinary coupons can also involve coupon fraud. Incredibly good and fraudulent vouchers continue to circulate on the Internet, and many innocent consumers, retailers and manufacturers are stuck, wasting time and money. Maximizing the coupon function can spell the end of coupon fraud, causing manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars in losses each year. If you don't talk about coupon scams, you can't write an article on extreme coupon use. If you read the coupon before purchasing the product, declare that you comply with their coupon policy, and confirm that you have all the clues, then it is fraudulent. To give a background, Coupon Information Corporation also known as CIC is a non-profit association of customer items makers devoted to contesting coupon and redemption fraud. Consumers cannot redeem coupons for products that are related to retail purchases or when the coupons are modified to counterfeit products. Since its establishment in 1985, CIC has uncovered more than $750 million in fraudulent schemes. In May 2011, CIC published 25 fake coupons on its website and provided various rewards to those responsible for successfully prosecuting the fake coupons. Coupon tailoring service provides coupons up to $50 and up to $0.3. Another problem is the use of manufacturer vouchers in stores. Fraud is the purchase of coupons that adds to the total cost of shopping travel costs not reported on TV. As mentioned above, coupon fraud causes shops to increase prices to make up for the profits they lost due to forged coupons. If your store uses the extra 800 free merchandise coupons in the episode, it will not be counted as fake tidal coupons. If there are more fake coupons that day, the store will lose $12,000. If you are familiar with Procter Gamble coupon codes, you will know that the company, like most manufacturers, is very careful in issuing coupons for free products to consumers. It is rare to see coupons with free P&G product safety holograms. How to prevent? Tracking coupon redemptions is an arduous fight, even for the most famous and well- known companies. At some point, coupon abuse has affected the vast majority of businesses, and with the popularity of online promotions, this embarrassing statistic is expected to grow. Coupon usage restrictions should be in line with your marketing goals and flexible enough to cope with unexpected business changes and dynamic changes. In this article, we will show you how to limit the use of coupons and make redemption a reliable indicator of the success of the campaign. This is a list of important things to keep in mind to prevent coupon fraud: Generate code that is difficult to crack. Don't expose everything. Enter the budget limit. Use order and shopping cart-based coupon redemption standards. Check the coupon activity period. Always enter email verification for digital offers. Assign a unique code to the personal customer profile. Use web beacons to monitor IP addresses. Monitor the suspicious behavior of the transaction. Use temporary environment to test coupons. Control access to your promotional software. A geolocation coupon must be created. Control the distribution of coupons. Analyze investment behavior to detect suspicious activities. Limit the number of coupon redemptions.

Hi, my name is Nikhil. I started working as a Data Scientist at Com Olho in the cybersecurity space two months back. My journey so far in the company has been nothing short of highly enriching. I got to work with the most talented, passionate team which shares a common goal and holds tight to their ethics. I am from Electrical and electronics background and I had developed interest in the data field in my 4th year of graduation which made me feel like it was too late to start but I made the right choice to switch. I started reading a lot and coding whatever I used to learn theoretically and it gave me enough confidence to sit for interviews. This is when I got the reality check, all the companies wanted people from the IT or CS in their data team and it was almost mental how knowledge and understanding of the field was not a criterion to be selected. My stars aligned and I finally got an opportunity for an interview with the Com Olho team and I finally found people who measured my skills and potential irrespective of my educational background. My first day at the office was enough for me to get the sense of how everyone was strongly dedicated towards a vision which was to make cyberspace a secure place for everyone. What inspires me the most is the journey that these people have covered over the last few years and how they turned a piece of code into a revolutionary patented technology which is ground-breaking to a level of completely changing the advertisement fraud detection landscape. And now after two months of working, I feel like I have completely conformed to the vision and ethical values that are prevalent at Com Olho. Every day at the office, we're solving real world problems, spreading awareness and helping each other learn and grow. We not only grow as an individual but as a team too. I had never imagined this is how I was going to start my career in the data field. A few years down the lane I think I'd already be a part of an extremely important solution to an ever-growing problem. To anyone who's reading this and wants to start a career in data science, it's fine if you don't start BIG, just start with the right people with the right vision for no number of resources ever made an idea big but the right ideas have been shaping the world since the beginning. Connect with me on LinkedIn: Link

Pandemic has led to a rise in fraud rates with criminals looking to take advantage of the disruption of both businesses and their clients. It is anticipated that there will be over 7.5 billion internet users by 2030, hence it’s more important than ever to think about how to safeguard your business against fraud and improve the digital customer experience. Last year, every dollar lost due to fraud cost the business $3.60, an increase of 7% from previous years. Fraud is expensive and impacts negatively on both businesses and consumers. What are disposable phone numbers? Disposable phone numbers (also known as temporary or discarded numbers), is a fake phone number that can be used for a limited or temporary period. This visible phone number is used during checkout or account sign-up to avoid providing a legitimate phone number and is generally used by many to get OTP account authentication for temporary access. The number expires after a certain amount of time – usually about 10 minutes. This means that those who need and use this service for longer-period of time will have to get new ones after every 10 minutes of use. The various ways in which these temporary numbers can be used for harmful or fraudulent motives are growing day by day as maleficent look for novel ways to conceal their identity or emulate others. 1. People use disposable phone numbers in situations where they do not want to provide their permanent numbers. For example, the missing number allows the seller on a website of classified ads and community notices to stop the service from the phone number once the advertised item has been purchased. 2. Another drawback is identity theft where people are in contact with strangers for online dating or doing some kind of fraud. These temporary numbers raise a concern about the nature of online identities, as phone numbers are now associated with people's identities. 3. Fake ownership will damage the seller's services and cause great losses. For example, the committer may bypass your phone verification process and sign up for multiple accounts to take advantage of your services. This leads to CRM deterioration. 4. Another disadvantage is that if someone gets access to any information on your disposable phone number – such as your name or home address – they might locate you more easily and quickly than if they had access to your permanent phone number. Because phone numbers are increasingly being used as unique identifiers, connecting user data across multiple databases, which also contain other users data, disposable phone numbers raise a concern about the nature of online identities. Numbers should be validated at the point of entry into your system to ensure that only real, genuine, and qualified leads are captured, keeping your user database clean and preventing fraud. How can Com Olho help? In our research, Com Olho’s system examined over ten thousand of websites to reveal where maleficent use of disposable phone numbers can be found. Com Olho introduced a SaaSless real time API disposable phone numbers detection which regularly scans the web and active phone numbers from a variety of sources to detect disposable phone numbers and verify fraud. At the moment, we have over 10K phone numbers currently in use around the world. Benefits of Com Olho’s Offering: 1. Identity Theft Prevention - Disposable numbers raise a concern about the nature of online identities. Using our real time API Identify the real identity associated with the number using this offering. 2. CRM Improvement - Validate phone numbers at the point of entry into your system to ensure that only real, genuine and qualified leads are captured, keeping your user database clean and preventing fraud. 3. Real-Time API - Experience SaaSless real time API to determine the validity of the numbers entered, as well as discover and remove disposable numbers from your database. Schedule a personalised walkthrough of this offerings.

We are very familiar with spotting advertisements while playing games on the mobile phone. Also, some games even lure customers to watch some advertisements for some extra points. In-game advertising is a very common form of digital media that has continued to raise with the rise of the programmatic industry. And throughout history there have been people who try to exploit these flows through illicit activities where there is potential for profit. The game developers are usually in no way responsible for this fraudulent activity and probably do not even know about it. What is Mobile Ad fraud? Mobile advertisement fraud is the effort to deceive advertisers, publishers, or delivery partners by abusing cell phone advertising know-hows. The aim of scammers is to steal advertising budgets. Types of mobile phone ad fraud include click spam, click injection, and SDK spoofing. Mobile phone ad fraud can take many forms, from fake impressions, click spam, or fake installs. Fraudulent publishers looking to take advantage of fake impressions can, for example, stick ads in a single pixel or deliberately place an ad out of sight to generate views or impressions that never occurred. Gaming apps are now replacing more conventional forms of entertainment and in-app advertising is widely used. Mobile games have a high level of participation and scammers are attracted because consumers are exposed to the ads for longer. However, the biggest challenge marketers’ face with digital ad fraud is not knowing exactly how big the problem is. And the risk continues to grow. What are some commonly used Mobile Ad fraud indicators? Mobile ad fraud has its own ciphers and signs that can be used to rank and eradicate operators. Inconsistencies in user behaviour, system sensors, and more can be discovered using data obtained from attribution providers. This also helps to recognise activity patterns and highlight conspicuous behaviours. A larger record helps identify fraudulent patterns better and faster. These are some of the indicators: New Device Rate (NDR) is the percentage of new devices that download an application through an advertiser. It is important to monitor NDR activity as this rate is determined by the new measured device IDs. When a different user installs an app or an existing user changes a device, it can be influenced by device ID rearrange fraud tactics. Ad tracking limits give users control over the amount of information advertisers can obtain about the operation of their devices. Scammers use it to cover their plans on their smartphones, but this only applies to Google and iOS advertisers. Click to Install Time (CTIT), as the term suggests, can be used to identify various cases of click-based fraud, such as the user's first advertising interaction or the first time an application is opened. Artificial intelligence helps recognise occurrences that humans cannot track. A fraud recognition resolution in amalgamation with a gigantic mobile attribution list together with machine learning algorithms confirms competent fraud detection. Device Sensors is a biometric behaviour analysis based on hundreds of sensor indicators from the device's battery level to its angle and more. These indicators help create a profile for each facility that analyses the device and user behaviour of each facility and its compatibility with normal trends measured with real users. Conversion rates are the percentage of ad impressions that convert to clicks that generate installs and installs from active users. Knowing an advertiser's expected conversion rates in advance at any point in the customer experience helps prevent fraud. To understand the basics of ad fraud in gaming, we need to first look at why and how advertising is incorporated in gaming: 1. The concept of earning virtual currency: Many games allow users to earn virtual money or credits to purchase in-game items. Some ad technology vendors who are always on the lookout for an attentive audience, have developed a simple media delivery model that takes advantage of this component. Players can easily earn virtual rewards or currency by interacting with paid advertising. 2. The ability of participants to configure game servers Players (and others) who configure their own servers to host these types of games can add plugins, invite others to join, and perform a variety of other game-related tasks. Game - including enabling a rewards offer announcement. 3. The game’s chat functionality A player who wants to see paid ads to redeem rewards will send these messages through chat which forwards a request to the server serving the ad. It was discovered that a bot was being deployed to consume these ads, using actual player IDs that never invoked the required commands. 4. How to combat ad fraud in the gaming industry? To efficiently fight ad fraud, exclusively in the gaming arena, marketers must understand that scammers are smart and always one step ahead of us. They are innovative, creative, and constantly improving their tools. Any form of ad fraud leads to a decrease in digital trust. Timely action is essential to prevent mobile ad fraud and regain trust in the digital community. Therefore, marketers must be armed with an unconventional and chic mobile ad fraud solution and be careful at every step of the customer journey. This will ensure that new and existing fraudulent practices are identified and blocked, and that mobile campaigns generate business results. How Marketers can act? An online marketing campaign of any size requires a strong and stable infrastructure and an adaptive approach to detect and block new and existing fraud methods. Advertisers that rely on re-marketing are at great risk of hijacking. Any marketer's campaign plan must consider this risk. More transparency, analytics, and answerability are essential to tackle mobile ad fraud with a 360-degree security approach, and robust reassignment is essential to detect fraud at all levels. Daily campaign tracking, cost per acquisition (CPA), and the help of a trusted partner can work together to help a marketer identify and protect against the negative effects of cell phone ad fraud. Fraud is based on ROI. The more steps marketers take, the greater the chances of reducing fraudulent attacks.

A fake mobile app is an Android or iOS app that mimics the appearance and functionality of a legitimate app and offers legitimate features, but hides features that are undetectable to the user. Applications on mobile phone devices can get targeted users to download something by using real businesses or popular references. Fake mobile applications are applications that copy or mimic the look and functions of genuine applications and lure unsuspecting targeted users to install them. When you download and install a legitimate application, it can perform various malicious operations. Counterfeit apps can be designed to advertise revenue, while other apps are designed to collect login credentials, intercept sensitive data, or infect devices. The aforementioned reasons are why fake mobile applications are a leading cause of mobile ad- fraud. To understand this aspect of ad- fraud we shall learn more about it in the given article. Counterfeit mobile apps are Android and iOS apps that mimic the appearance and function of legitimate apps to trick unimportant users into installing them. Fake apps display advertisements to generate advertising revenue, install malware on your device, steal your account information and use your permissions. The process of creating and disabling fake apps is simple as a cybercriminal simply registers in an App Store as a developer, downloads a legitimate application and rewrites it to include malicious code. Downloading and installing an app can have many harmful effects. Fake apps incline towards requiring supplementary permissions than genuine ones and have more control over the targeted user's device. Apps can access your location, email address, phone number and more by default. Given the importance and prevalence of mobile applications, it is crucial for companies to integrate their brand protection and security strategies into the protection, monitoring and implementation of mobile applications, especially when mobile applications are on the market. Monitoring the official app store and reporting organisations that abuse their trademarks can reduce the negative impact of fake apps. Quick and easy access to genuine applications in the app store can certainly reduce the risk of users downloading fake applications. According to McAfee Mobile Threat Report 2019, 65,000 new rogue apps were discovered in December of last year alone, six times more than in June 2018. Rogue and fake apps are becoming a growing threat to consumers, with the associated malicious activities and ad- fraud corresponding to them rising by 191% between 2018 and 2019. Fake apps remained a trend in 2019, exacerbated by fake versions of popular apps and brands circulating in the Google Play Store. The creation of fake apps has become a new threat to consumer as cybercriminals sneak in on mobile platforms as preferred targets. Why fake applications are considered dangerous? When one installs a third-party application, scammer will request permission to access your data (Gmail, OneDrive, etc.). Rogue applications use these permissions to maliciously access your data. This can have serious consequences: 1. Data leakage: Using fake apps that gain access to your data (e.g. email), hackers can read or delete any information. If the email contains sensitive information such as credentials or bank card details, hackers can use it to access your bank account. 2. Compliance violation: Loss or exposure of data can lead to violations of data security compliance standards such as HIPAA. Fines for compliance violations can be very high. 3. Ransomware infection: Rogue applications can be used to infect your system via ransomware. Therefore, your data will be encrypted and unreadable. To return it, the hacker will ask you for money. The ransom demand can run into the millions of dollars. Needless to say, all of this can lead to significant financial and reputational losses. That is why it is very important to prevent fake applications being used. As the number of smartphone users continues to grow, cybercriminals in the form of rogue applications targeting mobile phones are becoming more and more common. Mobile device users, also known as mobile users, are increasingly exposed to malicious activity and are concerned about the pressure of malware apps on smartphones, tablets and other devices with mobile operating systems. Many of these applications exploit security vulnerabilities in their mobile operating systems, and one of the best ways for mobile users to keep themselves secure is updating their operating system regularly. However, consumers can protect themselves from rogue applications and other mobile malware threats through several methods. In view of this, Name-shield proposed online monitoring of mobile applications in the app store, so that everyone can identify the infringers of your brand and help you take immediate measures. In 2021, common tactics, such as advertising, phishing and false applications, continue to dominate the landscape of mobile threats. First world user is looking for a mobile application that is connected to your favourite brand. As demand is growing and the opportunity to expand the use of mobile devices is increasing, cybercriminals are expected to search for details of these assignments to exploit new function applications and advanced application calls to increase. Mobile applications can use more than 5 million applications that can be downloaded at the main application stores, and more than 2,000 new applications charged daily. The data suggest that the user has an increasingly installed mobile application for mobile devices, and the consumption of these mobile data is increasing. With millions of apps available, it's not easy to spot counterfeits. Cybercriminals attract the attention of the public online and are easily attracted by applications that are causing a sensation on mobile devices around the world. Thus it can be understood that counterfeit applications are the number one threat to network security. Cybercriminals falsify legal trademarks by using official company logos and images to persuade users to download and install cloned applications. The fake WhatsApp application updated WhatsApp to be the same as the official WhatsApp application and sent many advertisements to users. Fake apps take advantage of the popularity of major e-commerce brands to obtain credit card information and personal information. With such comprehensive examples and explanation, it must be understood to the reader how fake mobile apps can cause ad- fraud.

What exactly is a fake mobile install app and do fake install apps really cause that big a problem? Let us try to find out the answer to these questions. Fake installations of mobile apps can lead to loss of revenue for the advertiser. It might not look like not a big figure when seen for a singular advertiser but when aggregated and analysed at the industry level, it shows a different picture. Fake installs or app install fraud in other words is continually growing as an industry. As of 2019, it is an industry as big as $13 Billion, to put this into perspective, according to Statista, the mobile ad industry is worth $233 Billion. So that amounts to a modest figure of well above five percent, which means that these revenues are being leaked out of the industry. What is mobile application install fraud? When apps are installed, it generates revenue but then they are installed by malware or bots or any other nefarious means it is constituted as a fake app install, this is done to collect the revenue or the so-called commission by a fraudulent affiliate partner to take credit for the install. These fake app installs should be distinguished by organic app installs, these are the app installations that would have happened even without the assistance of a marketing campaign. When brands and advertisers look at it from their marketing eyes, they realize that every installation by a targeted customer is very valuable because it enhances brand engagement, recognition, and ultimately conversions. These conversions become the major reason why marketers are enthusiastic and willing to pay for every installation by an affiliate partner. How does mobile application install fraud work? Since we are aware of how sophisticated technology is getting these days, it should also be noted that the umbrella of creating fake app installs is also growing. These methods include the following among others: bots install-hijacking, device ID reset marathons, device ID reset fraud, ad fraud hiding behind Limit Ad Tracking, server-based Installs, device-based Install fraud. With the advancing technology, it would be wrong to say that some fraud methods are not better than others and they are continually improved to make them look genuine. The most commonly exploited model is the CPI (cost per install) campaign. In this method, publishers or ad networks take advantage of the advertisers by misusing the above-stated campaign. As already discussed, advertisers pay for every install to the user which simply means that more installs are equivalent to more revenue generation which eventually translates to more money for networks and publishers. To give a general idea, bots can be used by automated scripts on a mobile phone which are spread through malware. This malware can run programs in the background and infect the mobile phone device without the knowledge of the user. Bots can further be instructed to interact with ads, browse websites and even install apps. One more thing to be noted about bots is that this type of fraud can be done in the cloud and potentially in multiple locations on multiple servers so that it looks authentic. Some fraud schemes also involve human frauds like install farms (in this type of fraud, people are paid to install apps on their phones and even interact with them). Device farm is a low-tech and simple form of fraud where one gets a number of devices and then installs multiple apps, opens them, deletes them, clicks a lot of tracking links, reset every device’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA for iOS), or advertising ID (Android). This process of installation and deletion is repeated regularly and ad money is collected. Some other forms of scam where the affiliate is falsely able to claim credit for installations (organic install) involve attribution fraud such as click stuffing or click injection. Another common type of app install fraud is SDK spoofing. From a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP), the mobile marketers place a software (SDK) that measures and monitors the results of their marketing. This type of fraud involves taking credit by the fraudster for installing an app that is not actually installed. In other words, SDK spoofing is used when malware from the first app tries to and is successful in simulating and attributing for another application on the same device except that the other app is not really installed but the credit for installation is taken anyway. It is also noted that in this kind of fraud, any activity they’re able to simulate on the app, they’re spoofing. Can fake installs be prevented/detected? There are ways that can help in the detection of fake app installs but they have their own drawbacks and most of them are either inaccurate or unreliable and mostly ineffective. To name a few: 1. An abnormal retention rate/ other KPIs: Marketers should be cautious and always keep a track of any abnormal activities in the retention rates or in-app purchases or regarding other KPIs. Anything unusual about a campaign should be looked into because fraudsters are now not only generating fake installs but also continue to send post-install events which are basically like faking a users’ activity. 2. An abnormal number of new devices: It is a statistical technique that is used to detect fake app installs by looking for a high percentage of brand new devices or mobile phones which have never been seen before which are coming from a publisher or an ad network. An abnormally high ratio is a sign of something unusual. 3. SDK Message Hashing The main objective of SDK spoofing is to fake Mobile Measurement Partners (MMP) SDK traffic, hashing is used to protect MMPs messages. Data is taken and then for every app, a secret key combining them to a blob of data is created. This key can be verified at MMP’s backend. There is, however a problem with the secrecy because the users’ apps’ hashes can be extracted by the SDK fraudster. It can thus be understood that fake installs are getting more common day-by-day and harder to detect and prevent too. Apart from these methods, there are devices and tools which help in the prevention of fake app installs, but even they have their drawbacks. So, until a stable technology is widely available, the mobile ad industry will keep losing money.

A number of technologies were introduced for manipulation of images in the 19th century. And these were used in motion pictures later on. Such techniques got improved fast with the digital videos. Research conducted at academic institutions in the early 1990s helped in developing Deepfake technology. And, the developers fine-tuned this technology in online communities. In recent years, Deepfake has grabbed a lot of attention to be used in hoaxes, financial frauds and fake news. If we use the technology in a beneficial way, then it may come out to be good for the community. But the government had to limit and watch out for the illegal use of the Deepfake technology. What is Deepfake Technology? This technology refers to the creation of manipulated visual content which is generated with the help of sophisticated artificial intelligence. This technology helps in yielding modified images and sounds which appear completely real. In most of the cases, a person in an image or video is replaced with another person. Deep learning models, which is actually a sub-class in machine learning methods, are used in the creation of Deepfakes. These machine learning methods are generally based on artificial neural networks. How is Deepfake a big cyberthreat for our community? Deepfakes can be deceiving, hence they are considered as a threat to us. In 2018, a deepfaked video of Barack Obama was created which had an audio track synced with it and the audio track was by comedian Jorden Peele. Here, people objected to the election or political interference. It was said that there is not just political or military concern here, rather it had law enforcement, insurance and commerce concerns too. All these concerns were properly validated by an incident that took place in 2019. In this incident, the fraud people used deepfaked audios in order to scam a CEO of a huge company and steal his $243,000. As per the victim’s evidence, the caller used deepfake technology to replicate the German accent as well as melody of his employer and thus fooled him for taking that money. Despite the examples discussed above, there is still a need for materialisation of threats which may get posed by deepfakes. However, this technology is majorly used in creating viral videos or in creating adult content and not in any high tech cyberespionage which causes the security experts, computer scientists or politicians to worry. Does Deepfake technology pose the similar risk in 2021? One of the major reasons for Deepfake technology to not be in full-fledged level of scams is the essentiality of knowledge and the method with which they get generated. For creating a real looking or convincing deepfake, it requires the Artificial Intelligence algorithms and deep learning. Moreover, another factor which limits the use of deepfake is because scammers do not even need such technologies. There are several other low-tech methods which may help them in fooling other people. Then, why will they go for such a high-tech method for scamming? These reasons do not tell us that this technology will not cause any harm. It is possible that these barriers for creation of convincing frauds diminish with time. As they are getting popular among people, there are several apps also which makes it easier for scammers to create more convincing, cheaper and faster digital deepfakes. The best way for us to stay away from such cyberattacks or scams is knowledge. Every person who is well informed of the cases will be difficult to be fooled. How concerned should we be? As we have discussed, deepfake is not a huge threat to identity fraud. If a person tries to impersonate him as another individual as per the digital identity of that person, in this case digital manipulations cause some sort of threat to the methods of biometric authentication. But this is not applicable for a fraudster who is amateur. In order to create convincing deepfake images or videos, there must be significant technical expertise along with so much compute power, unlike some approaches like face morphing. So, it is evident that the scammers will need to put in a lot of effort and time in order to develop their capabilities so that they become capable of at least starting with creating convincing deepfake images, audios or videos. So, unfortunately, we cannot completely rely on this factor of technical barrier so as to prevent the scammers from using deepfake technology for duping other people. As for using any fraud technique or performing cybercrime, people could do this by packaging the code in order to allow others so as to allow others for leveraging Biometric authentication used to detect deepfakes However, we do not face such deepfakes frequently, we can still detect these deepfakes by using some important techniques. First of all, biometric analysis powered by AI can considerably help in determining if the video is forged or original. It uses techniques like motion, lip and texture analysis in order to verify the physical presence of the user. Secondly, we can do it by giving random instructions to the user so that we can know of their authentication. These instructions may include looking in the instructed directions, reading some phrases. These methods will help in predicting their authentication. The users who got to respond wrongly can be taken for further investigation. Also, the manipulation of deepfakes lowers down the video quality significantly. Lastly, the criminals should be fooled by making them think that we are capturing a deepfake video with the help of a phone, whereas we will use verification systems and fool them. Thus, you can know of the fraud.

Undeniably, technology today is stepping the ladders of success at the fastest pace and doesn’t seem to slow down! We today are able to do all the things that are the mother of all what-ifs in the past. Mobile phones are the most fascinating sources of entertainment. No person can claim to get bored when thawing phones in their hands. You can do whatever you wish like listening to music, contact a long-distance person, manage work, gaming, and whatnot. Internet facilities act just like the cherry on the cake for any mobile device, you can download your favourite songs and videos and share them among friends and family. In any situation like standing in a queue, long journey, waiting for someone, or getting bored, your phone will come to your rescue and offer you superb entertainment. The pattern of mobile devices in India The vast Indian market of manufacturing of handsets comprises smartphones and feature phones are just skyrocketing. As per the stats of the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) knowledge centre , India is widely prominent to be the second-largest market for mobile manufacturing followed by China. India is believed to overtake the current position of China in the forthcoming years by 5 times if it moves with this pace and can be known as the largest market as compare to China, where growth has started to decelerate. How do I see which app gets what information? As soon as you install an app, it is much common that they ask for certain permissions. Even if we look at the past, several apps seek permission for about everything that they generally require upfront, but in the latest trending IOS and Android the things are very much segregated so they genuinely ask for access. If you see an iPhone, it is a very simple procedure to check what variations of data you have given permission for and from which apps, and if you wish you can also revise your decision with a click. In any non-Apple phone or Android phone, there is a somewhat streamline the setting of privacy in Android 10 and you can also see in some Android 6 version you see the settings in the app permissions options. Why are the apps demanding access to my camera? You must have seen several apps ask for your camera access, it is the most common permission asked by apps. You must have wondered why camera setting? Are they going to put surveillance on me without my knowledge? The answer probably is a no! This is actually a dangerous practice for every app and would not add a lot of value. But the question arises why camera access? Generally, there are some apps that give you access to upload your pictures like Instagram, Facebook, or scanning of QR codes. Until and unless the app is image-focused, there is no such need for any other app to ask for permissions. Why some apps are tar-getting on physical movements? Our phones are almost time connected with the internet and have an added feature of built-in GPS, which makes it easy to understand your movements. Facebook and Instagram have often tied your posts with some places, some music and video streaming apps also have interest in knowing your movements to give you suggestions. Yes, it has its advantages, but sometimes the odds are against us too as this information is something people are much protective about. Both the iPhone and Androids have this feature that calls for the “only while in use” feature with location access. Both of these systems also offer you an option of completely turning your location on or off as per your wish and will also remind you on a daily basis if any app is trying to track you from its backend. What are the safety measures to secure yourself? Completely focus on the app store Generally, your mobile devices give you permission for any type of app installation without their app store, but you should not accept the same. The app store of your phone offers reliable protection against any threat. The apps are perfectly reviewing the malware and along with this, your phone is also scanning any threat that might have left by the app store to ensure smooth functioning of your device. Any outside source, like a file that you download from some website, does not assure any kind of protection. See what your apps are accessing Whenever you install an app, they ask for several common permissions like GPS, camera, photos, and some more. But there are some apps that also require some other things like contacts, profiles, and even more. It is nearly impossible to use the apps without giving them access, but you should be aware that you should not agree to every condition. You might not know that there are some apps that also make money by selling your information to the advertisers and this is why you receive random calls too. You might have wondered why your calculator or flashlight app asks for your location or contacts. Use of Anti-virus and Anti-malware features Of course, nobody would let their computers work without any antivirus, then why would you let your phones stay unprotected? Until the moment you are using the internet, it is under constant threats. There are many anti-virus and anti-malware available for apps that ensure that you are not sharing any information that is not required or blocking the apps that affect your privacy. In a nutshell, People today are so much dependent on their mobiles as they offer startling benefits to them majorly connecting to people all across the globe in their daily life. But we don’t realise that it affects our personal information with any downloads we make or any internet facility we use. Privacy is anyways never secured, but many measures can be taken to protect your phone and your personal data which is important for the great functioning of the phone in the big picture! Author : Auhsini Das About Her : With a Data Science degree from IIT Madras, Aushini enrich audience with her high quality tech articles. Having +5 years of experience in content writing, She work passionately to create copy that converts, with a focus on maintaining your authentic brand voice.

So, you have just started a business and want to expand it. How do you do it? Well, obviously by advertising. But where do you advertise? The newspaper? The magazine? These options are isolated and most definitely don’t reach enough people. The main reason would be digitisation. So posters, newspapers, and tabloid magazines are just not enough anymore. This is where digital marketing comes in. Digital marketing needs understanding to make an online business campaign successful. What is programmatic advertising? Programmatic advertising is the technology the enables you to place ads in ad spaces of publishers. Now there is a process to how this works. First, let us understand the different components of programmatic advertising. SSP – stands for the supply-side platform. It is a kind of software that looks after the supply side of the publisher side. This software takes information from the publisher, such as – the minimum range for which a publisher offers their ad space, the content, and general information about the publisher. SSP mainly finds advertisements suitable for the publishers’ content and uses the ad space effectively. DSP – stands for the demand-side platform. This software takes promoters information – the maximum bidding price, the target audience, and the advertisement content. DSP mainly finds ad spaces based on user interest and shows those ads to the consumers. This enables targeting a specific audience and also ensures the ad gets good impressions. Ad space/ Inventory space– Ad space or Inventory space is any space you see in a website or platform where an advert is displayed. These ads are generally a result of programmatic advertising. Ad exchange – Ad exchange is a technology that acts as a mediator for SSP and DSP. Since it is technology, there is complete transparency for the advertiser as they can directly buy inventory space from suppliers. However, they are slightly complicated and may be best used by veteran businesses with a lot to invest in. Ad network – Ad network also is a mediator connecting SSP and DSP. However, an Ad network is a company. These Ad networks buy inventory space from publishers in bulk and sell to the advertisers. This means that there is a lack of transparency. The supplier’s direct price is not known, and thus the price listed by the Ad network could fluctuate. RTB – stands for real-time bidding. This is a complex process that happens in a fraction of seconds. When you click on a website, the SSP gathers your relevant information through cookies and sends them to the DSP. The DSP then places a bid for that ad space in the Ad exchange or Ad network. Now automatically, the highest bid is chosen. All this happens between the time you click on a website till the website loads. As soon as you load the website, you see the advert on the website. This process is real-time bidding. Tracking – Tracking is how the ad exchange or ad network tracks where consumers are coming from website adverts, or links in search results, through emails, or through social media. It tracks your campaign and thus increases impressions and reach. How does programmatic advertising work? So, as an advertiser, you use an ad exchange or ad network to pay for your campaign to get advertised on different websites, social media, web pages, and emails. DSP and SSP do proper audience targeting. Thus it is ensured that your advertisements reach audiences who have shown interest in campaigns and topics similar to yours. Real-time bidding makes the process very fast and quick. Further, through tracking, you can track the platform through which you get maximum impressions and reach. This makes the entire process of marketing a campaign online much faster, more comfortable, and efficient. Author : Auhsini Das About Her : With a Data Science degree from IIT Madras, Aushini enrich audience with her high quality tech articles. Having +5 years of experience in content writing, She work passionately to create copy that converts, with a focus on maintaining your authentic brand voice.

Digital piracy refers to the illegal act of duplicating, copying, or sharing a digital work without the permission of the copyright holder, a violation of copyright laws. Digital piracy grew out of computer hacking with the popularity of the internet and technology evolving rapidly, more and more people is choosing to consume their content online. Whether it's from a mobile phone, tablet or smart TV, online digital consumption is increasing and becoming the people‟s choice for accessing film, TV, music, books, software and games. Piracy comes in different forms. Each of the forms have a potential to harm enterprises and impact brand safety. 1. Counterfeiting : Illegal duplication, distribution and/or sale of copyrighted material with the intent of imitating the copyrighted product. 2. Internet Piracy : Software/Content being downloaded from the Internet. The same purchasing rules apply to online software/content purchases as for those bought in compact disc format or streamed online. Common Internet piracy techniques are:  Websites that make software/content available for free download or in exchange for others.  Internet auction sites that offer counterfeit or out-of-channel software/content.  Peer-to-peer networks that enable unauthorised transfer of copyrighted programs/content. 3. End User Piracy : This occurs when an individual reproduces copies of software/content without authorisation. These include:  Using one licensed copy to install a program/content on multiple computers.  Copying discs for installation or distribution of software/content.  Taking advantage of upgrade offers without having a legal copy of the version to be upgraded.  Acquiring academic or other restricted or non-retail software/content without a proper license  Swapping discs in or outside the workplace 4. Client- Server Overuse : This type of piracy occurs when too many users on a network are using a central copy of a program/content at the same time. If you have a local-area network and install programs/content on the server for several people to use, you have to be sure your license entitles you to do so. If you have more users than allowed by the license, that's "overuse." 5. Hard-Disk Loading :This occurs when a business sells new computers with illegal copies of software loaded onto the hard disk to make the purchase of the machines more attractive. Effect of Piracy on Business Revenue and Performance? Trust : Why should consumers pay when they can download the software/content for free? Revenue : Pirates share and download your software/content for free leading to severe income loss. Brand Image : Once the content is available for free, brand image and exclusivity goes for a toss! PiracyIQ by Com Olho We leverage state of the art machine based algorithms to takedown pirated versions of your software/content. Linear Discriminant Analysis, topic modelling to extract public endpoints to takedown illegal content. Learn more : https://www.comolho.com/piracyiq Content prepared by : Shweta Choubey, Summer Intern at Com Olho. Note : Content summarised above might be sourced from different public websites in order to summarise the rising menace of digital piracy.