Bad guys are getting massively efficient at their money-making. Especially in digital advertising, they make money while they sleep and while other human customers sleep too. That's because with the proliferation of media buying using automated platforms, there is the corresponding proliferation of ways to generate fake impressions and clicks and siphon large amounts of digital ad spend.

1. Humans Not Required
(for Digital Ad Fraud)
Ted McConnell
Dr. Augustine Fou
February 2014
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Augustine Fou

2. “Bad guys used to have to create „spider
web‟ pages and wait for unsuspecting
humans to land and click through on
affiliate links – so they could earn a trickle
of revenue share.”
-- Augustine Fou
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Augustine Fou

3. Algo-Generated Pages
Characteristics
• Auto-generated by bots,
stuffed with search keywords
• To attract organic search traffic
• Not human readable (low
instance of natural phrases)
• Stuffed with affiliate links and
display ads
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Augustine Fou

4. Affiliate Links on Page
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00BXF7I9M/panandscathed-20
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/itemdetails.asp?EdpNo=7674736&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=ddCjC1bELltzywCjCd2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=TnL5H
PStwNw&AffiliateID=TnL5HPStwNw-Hc5zkpsnZO2pj1vg.2uttw
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Augustine Fou

5. Affiliate Rev Shares
Camera rev shares:
$25 - $78
Computer
$15 - $28
Electronics
$13 - $56
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Augustine Fou

6. “But now, they just put up hundreds of
thousands of websites, in order to serve
up display and search ads – and get paid
a lot more money for millions of
impressions, views, and clicks – all fully
automated, and all 99% profit.”
-- Ted McConnell
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Augustine Fou

7. Bad Guys Put Up Sites
site = analyzecanceradvice .com
site = missomoms.com
19 blocked ads on page
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Augustine Fou

8. Load Tons of Ads on Pages
http://modernbab y.com/
http://interiorcom plex.com/
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Augustine Fou

9. Use Bots to Load the Pages
Source: Wired
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Augustine Fou

10. Bots Type Search Term
healthsiteproduc tionalways.com
buy eye cream online
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Augustine Fou

11. Bots Click Search Ad
Olay.com ad
in #1 position
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Augustine Fou

12. Redirect Link(s)
Known blackhat
technique to hide real
referrer and replace
with faked referrer.
SIX (6) redirects
before ending on the
landing page
See how-to:
http://www.blackhatworld.com/
blackhat-seo/cloaking-contentgenerators/36830-cloakingredirect-referer.html
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Augustine Fou

13. Pass Fake URL Trackers
http://www.olay.com/skincare-products/OlayProX?utm_source=msn&utm
_medium=cpc&utm_camp
aign=Olay_Search_Deskto
p_Category+Interest+Prod
uct.Phrase&utm_term=eye
%20cream&utm_content=
TZsrSzFz_eye%20cream_
p_2990456911
Click thru URL
passing fake source
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Augustine Fou

14. Subject Matter
Experts
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Augustine Fou

15. Ted McConnell – Digital Consigliere
“My Goals are to drive, and participate
in the process that yields the winning
vision for my clients. I'm a Digital
Marketing Generalist: I've Run large
organizations, been staff to c-level
executives at P&G, hold 4 Patents,
successfully driven change in Marketing
and Advertising practice in P&G and
other companies.”
ADVERTISING RESEARCH FOUNDATION
MANAGER, DIGITAL MARKETING INNOVATION
AdAge Articles: http://adage.com/author/ted-mcconnell/4334
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ted-mcconnell/0/5b5/8a2
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Augustine Fou

16. Dr. Augustine Fou – Technical Forensics
“I advise clients on optimizing
advertising across all channels. One
main area of focus is reducing ad waste
due to fraud – fake impressions, clicks,
leads, and sales – in order to raise ROI.”
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
ClickZ Articles: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-clickz
Slideshares: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-slideshares
LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/augustinefou
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@acfou
Augustine Fou

17. Digital Ad Forensics Process
Preliminary Scan
Sizing of
ad fraud
Forensic Analysis
Maintenance
• Technology Tools
• Statistical analysis
• Budget shifts
• Further optimization
Implementation
FREE
$$$
Preliminary analysis of
paid campaigns and
analytics to determine
magnitude of the ad
fraud impacting client.
Creating recommended
list of changes,
including list of sites to
exclude in each ad
channel.
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$
Subscribe to triangulated,
cross-industry database of
“ad fraud offenders” to
continuously update
blacklists and whitelists.
Augustine Fou

18. Low Hanging Fruit
The most immediate, direct impact on ROI comes from reducing waste
25% On-Target Delivery
(Nielsen)
54% Not In View
(comScore)
23% Ad Blocked
(PageFair)
24 – 29% confirmed bot
(Solve Media)
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Augustine Fou

19. APPENDIX
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Augustine Fou

20. Related Articles
Humans Replaced by Machines
By: Augustine Fou, Nov 2012
Fake YouTube Videos
By: Augustine Fou, December 2013
Digital Ad Fraud Briefing
By: Augustine Fou December 2013
Fake Linkedin Profiles
By: Augustine Fou, December 2013
Ad Fraud Fighting Techniques
By: Augustine Fou October 2013
Fake Facebook Profiles
By: Augustine Fou, Dec 2013
How Display Fraud Works
By: Augustine Fou, May 2013
Fake Twitter Accounts
By: Augustine Fou, August 2013
How Click Fraud Works
By: Augustine Fou, November 2013
The Magnitude of Digital Ad Fraud
By: Augustine Fou, November 2013
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Augustine Fou

21. White Ops Bot Analysis
Source: White Ops
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Augustine Fou