28 votes

Apps installed on millions of Android phones tracked user behavior to execute a multimillion dollar ad fraud scheme

9 comments

  1. [5]
    arghdos
    Link
    I wonder if this is the way we start to see the advertising-based internet revenue model die... not because we have some great moral awakening to the damages caused by it, but because advertisers...

    I wonder if this is the way we start to see the advertising-based internet revenue model die... not because we have some great moral awakening to the damages caused by it, but because advertisers can no longer trust the ad-networks to be honest

    8 votes
    1. [4]
      Deimos
      Link Parent
      That danger has been there for a long time, a lot of the internet advertising industry (and the tech industry that relies on it) seems to be a house of cards that might crash down if advertisers...

      That danger has been there for a long time, a lot of the internet advertising industry (and the tech industry that relies on it) seems to be a house of cards that might crash down if advertisers start doubting how much value they're actually getting out of their ads.

      This is a post that I like from almost 2 years ago that goes through a bunch of pieces of the ad industry to show how advertisers are only getting about 3 cents worth of actual ad views for every dollar they spend on ads on the internet: https://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/2017/01/display-ads-my-3-worth.html

      The section in it about fraud is especially relevant:

      Your agency will tell you that they have protection against fraud. They have cyber-security this and 100%-guaranteed-ad fraud-protection that. It's all horseshit. Do some reading. You will find there are are NO RELIABLE METRICS on ad fraud.

      Ad fraud is estimated to be between 2% and 90%. In other words, no one has a fucking clue. Most knowledgeable people (including the WFA) believe it may easily be 30%. No matter what your "cyber-security team" tells you, nobody knows how much fraud there is in online advertising. But everyone agrees it's massive.

      There are occasional stories about dissatisfaction with online ads as well. For example, last year Procter & Gamble (the largest advertiser in the world) cut over $100M in online ads and didn't notice a difference. I think this is going to start becoming more and more common.

      9 votes
      1. s4b3r6
        Link Parent
        The largest advertising network in the world can't guarantee their own traffic, and are reduced to saying little more than some fraud took place, once someone else told them about it. They rely on...

        Your agency will tell you that they have protection against fraud. They have cyber-security this and 100%-guaranteed-ad fraud-protection that. It's all horseshit. Do some reading. You will find there are are NO RELIABLE METRICS on ad fraud.

        Google deploys comprehensive, state-of-the-art systems and procedures to combat ad fraud. We have made and continue to make considerable investments to protect our ad systems against invalid traffic.

        ... The traffic from these apps seems to be a blend of organic user traffic and artificially inflated ad traffic, including traffic based on hidden ads.

        The largest advertising network in the world can't guarantee their own traffic, and are reduced to saying little more than some fraud took place, once someone else told them about it.

        They rely on security-by-obscurity to protect the way they deal with fraud... Because they can't actually stop it, if you know how they were doing it.

        3 votes
      2. [2]
        JamesTeaKirk
        Link Parent
        I set up my work's Google advertising crap and it's pretty clearly a bunch of bullshit when you start looking at the traffic they claim they're sending your way vs the actual traffic on my site....

        I set up my work's Google advertising crap and it's pretty clearly a bunch of bullshit when you start looking at the traffic they claim they're sending your way vs the actual traffic on my site. You're really just paying to keep your search results relevant if you don't have the resources to keep up an "SEO strategy" or whatever. They also keep trying to force me to use a proxy Google number on our listings, to "track conversions over the phone". It seems to be a desprete attempt to make Google ads even more confusing and able to be billed more granularly; Especially considering it takes three hours of being on hold to get that "feature" turned off when they decide flip it back on every few months.

        2 votes
        1. frickindeal
          Link Parent
          Spent a little money on AdSense or whatever it's called for my business several years ago. At the time, I was getting roughly 600 lookups a month, which is all I'm interested in (people searching...

          Spent a little money on AdSense or whatever it's called for my business several years ago. At the time, I was getting roughly 600 lookups a month, which is all I'm interested in (people searching for the product I sell and seeing my static page, and hopefully calling or coming into the shop). After the purchase, it didn't budge at all. Now, I'm up to around 1100 lookups a month in-season, with no advertising. I'm a supplier to contractors; word of mouth is far more important than internet searches, but knowing that 1100 people saw my page, at least some of them ended up buying my inventory.

          3 votes
  2. Gaywallet
    Link
    And nothing of value was lost... Seriously though, I hate ads. I realize they are part of providing services to me for cheap (or cheaper) so learning of something like this is potentially damaging...

    And nothing of value was lost...

    Seriously though, I hate ads. I realize they are part of providing services to me for cheap (or cheaper) so learning of something like this is potentially damaging to my experience with apps and other "free" material on the internet. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, especially with alternative payment models on the internet not very well fleshed out.

    I do have to say, it's a pretty ingenious scam.

    6 votes
  3. [2]
    0F0_Simplex
    Link
    Slightly unrelated to the article, but I would like to say I'm glad another top notch investigative article has come out of BuzzFeedNews. Whenever people dunk on it because "it's Buzzfeed" it...

    Slightly unrelated to the article, but I would like to say I'm glad another top notch investigative article has come out of BuzzFeedNews. Whenever people dunk on it because "it's Buzzfeed" it makes me frustrated, and hopefully they can eventually be recognized as the quality news source they are.

    7 votes
    1. bibliophagist
      Link Parent
      I agree with you. I sincerely appreciate that Buzzfeed has chosen to use it's success from making lists to making quality content. That's the way business should be.

      I agree with you. I sincerely appreciate that Buzzfeed has chosen to use it's success from making lists to making quality content. That's the way business should be.

      3 votes