The Link Between Digital Ad Fraud and Cybercrime

NEW YORK, July 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- "The Report on Digital Ad Fraud and Cybercrime" published by Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc. and Dr. Augustine Fou, an independent ad fraud and cybersecurity researcher, draws a straight line between digital ad fraud, cyber crime, and other major crimes.

Published Study:  The Report on Ad Fraud and Cybercrime, 2018

Most of the general public has heard of the numerous major data breaches over the years where millions of consumers' personal details are stolen. Many have also experienced malware, pop-ups, malicious redirects, and ransomware on their computers or mobile devices. But few understand how hackers "cash out" of these criminal activities.

It is documented that lists of stolen identities, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. are sold on the dark web. But it is far more lucrative to combine the aforementioned criminal activities to steal dollars from massive digital advertising budgets – over $100 billion in the U.S. in 2018, $300 billion worldwide. This pool of dollars gets larger and is replenished year after year after year.

How do criminals do this? Though digital ad fraud.

They set up fake websites and fake mobile apps to generate trillions of digital ad impressions that marketers eagerly buy, attempting to reach more customers online -- except, these are not humans seeing ads. These are fake ads shown to fake users – bots – designed to create ad impressions and avoid detection.

Bots can also mimic humans by browsing various sites and combining bits of data from stolen identities to create fake audiences and segments that marketers pay extra to target.

Finally, what would criminals do with 100 million stolen credit cards? If they buy a TV, they will get caught. But if they automate millions of 99 cent transactions – e.g. buying power-ups and shields in online and games – they are likely to get away with it.

Dozens of examples of the connection between cybercrime and digital ad fraud are presented as evidence in the report.

About Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.
Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc. is a management consulting firm, founded in 2000 by Dr. Augustine Fou, that provides digital strategy consulting to clients. Dr Fou advises clients on optimizing marketing campaigns across both digital and traditional channels.

Contact:  Dr. Augustine Fou <[email protected]>

Related Links:

https://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/presentations

https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustinefou/detail/recent-activity/posts/

SOURCE Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mktsci.com