Mobile ad fraud, often more generally referred to as mobile fraud, describes fraudulent activities that steal advertising budget from brands. Mobile Ad Fraud can be committed by publishers, ad networks, or individual fraudsters with malicious intent. Fraudsters fake impressions and link clicks with the goal of capturing the coveted last touch position before a user installs an app or makes a purchase, an action for which advertisers pay.
Click fraud and attribution fraud are the most common types of fraud. Click flooding or click spam, click hijacking, and generating clicks from install farms are the most common techniques.