There are normal patterns to humans visiting websites -- for example, they search for something first and then go to the site, they sleep at night and visit websites during the day, etc. When there are unusual and large changes to site traffic, something is suspicious -- and it is likely done by bots (i.e. non human traffic - NHT).

1. Augustine Fou- 1 -
What Fraudulent
Traffic Looks Like
Dr. Augustine Fou
http://linkd.in/augustinefou
acfou @mktsci .com
July 2014

2. Augustine Fou- 2 -
Use Bots to Load the Pages
Source: Wired
Source: Google Digital Attack Map

3. Augustine Fou- 3 -
Traffic Firehose On/Off
Legit human traffic does not change rapidly; but bot traffic
(firehose) can be rapidly turned off and directed to other sites.
Source: Alexa
Source: spider.io

4. Augustine Fou- 4 -
Large Changes in Traffic
Source: Quantcast
Shows exactly
when bot traffic
was turned off
(drop to zero)
and then was
turned back on
(traffic out of
nowhere)

5. Augustine Fou- 5 -
Fake Video Views
Source: Socialbakers Channel Stats Tool
• Daily traffic is
identical
• Botnet views
turned off, then
back on

6. Augustine Fou- 6 -
Video Ad Fraud (Dec 2013)
Leaked Document Shows How Big
Brands' Video Ad Budgets Get Spent
On Asian Porn Sites – By: Jim Edwards
Read
more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tele
metry-document-ad-budgets-asian-porn-
2013-12#ixzz2sawbKAL4
• Video views from 5 different
sites, acoss multiple days is
exactly the same (this is not
normal)

7. Augustine Fou- 7 -
Humans Sleep At Night
Hourly traffic charts show
lower traffic at night (as
expected because human
visitors sleep at night)
Unusual traffic patterns
with no normal night time
trends visible, possibly
due to bot activity

8. Augustine Fou- 8 -
Weekday vs Weekend
Normal traffic pattern for
weekday vs weekend
(weekends are lower)
Something is strange here because
daily traffic should not be exactly the
same as every other day (i.e. no
normal weekday vs weekend cyclces)

9. Augustine Fou- 9 -
Search Volume Doesn’t Support
Source: Quantcast
search interest pattern

10. Augustine Fou- 10 -
Dr. Augustine Fou – Digital Consigliere
“I research ad fraud so I can advise
clients on how to detect and mitigate it.
This has the most direct mpact on the
ROI of their digital marketing
programs.”
FORMER CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, HCG (OMNICOM)
MCKINSEY CONSULTANT
CLIENT SIDE / AGENCY SIDE EXPERIENCE
PROFESSOR AND COLUMNIST
ENTREPRENEUR / SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
PHD MATERIALS SCIENCE (MIT '95) AT AGE 23
@acfou
ClickZ Articles: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-clickz
Slideshares: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-slideshares
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/84444-augustinefou

11. Augustine Fou- 11 -
Related Articles
Augustine Fou- 11 -
http://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/how-click-fraud-search-ad-fraud-
works-analysis-by-augustine-fou
http://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/proof-positive-click-fraud-
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http://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/proof-positive-click-fraud-sites-
investigation-by-augustine-fou
http://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/ad-fraud-estimates-by-augustine-fou-
technical-forensics-32293935
http://www.slideshare.net/augustinefou/fake-traffic-site-examples-2014-
augustine-fou