Direct Advertiser: 90%+ of ad fraud in CPA campaign on Android

FraudScore is always eager to spread knowledge about ad fraud, and how cunning fraudsters can be. This article is about another case from a real FraudScore’s client, and his case about the importance of constant control of traffic quality.

Case: Direct Advertiser; Mobile traffic.

Story: Google Chrome mobile released a new version at the beginning of September , 21 — 94.0.4606. Usually, when a new version is released, it takes about one or two months to be installed to the majority of devices (of course — it depends on the geo).

FraudScore’s client had a CPA mobile campaign. All the traffic sources were not new but already checked and trusted. But in November one specific affiliate was getting more and more alerts in FraudScore’s system — traffic started to look suspicious.

FraudScore’s team drilled down the reports and here is what we detected:

99.57% of conversions (users) had no in-app. We looked at the detected ad fraud reasons — 92% of conversions were marked with Old Browser symptom. It turned out that these 92% of conversions were from browsers with 94.0.4606 — the version that was released at the beginning of September. And to the end of November this version was way outdated — the majority of traffic from other sources had 95 and 96 versions.

So we had two major symptoms — No in-app and Old Browser. The advertiser developed a case and went to the affiliate to negotiate and deal with the situation.

It looks like fraudsters had set up bots to trick the platform but they were not up to speed with the updates. It takes time and resources to cheat.

FraudScore’s team is constantly updating algorithms and our fraud detection techniques to stay ahead of fraudsters, and develop protection for our clients.

We want to remind you that there is always a 14-day free trial to test our system, so that you can see FraudScore’s solution from within. You’ll learn how FraudScore’s ad fraud prevention and detection algorithms can help your business and budgets to be protected.

  • Since we use an MMP that is mainly popular in the CIS market, and most of our audience also comes from the CIS, FraudScore has become one of the most effective and affordable anti-fraud tools for us. It works very well with local MMPs, shows high accuracy in detecting fraud, and continues to be one of the leading anti-fraud solutions in the CIS region.
    Dmitrii Kaplan, Head of Digital at Twinby
  • We use FraudScore to monitor traffic quality in our advertising campaigns. The service helps us see the full picture across traffic sources, detect anomalies in time, and avoid unnecessary spending. The interface is simple and the data is presented clearly, which makes it easy to use both daily and for reporting.
    Konstantin Artemev, Performance Marketing Manager at Yandex
  • We use FraudScore to regularly assess traffic quality across our CPI and CPA campaigns. The tool allows us to quickly identify reliable traffic sources, flag potentially problematic ones, and adjust campaign settings in a timely manner as conditions change. FraudScore’s reporting is clear, well-structured, and easy to work with, which significantly simplifies decision-making. Today, FraudScore is fully integrated into our standard traffic management workflow and has become an essential part of it.
    Ruslan Maksimov, Head of Digital at MyBox
  • FraudScore has become part of our regular traffic verification process for clients. It helps us detect unusual activity early, analyze traffic sources, and avoid fraud-related risks. The tool fits naturally into our team’s workflow and helps maintain stable campaign quality without adding extra workload.
    Nikita Knyazev Senior Account Manager at ProContext Agency
  • We use FraudScore when managing our clients’ campaigns, where maintaining transparency and traffic quality is essential. The tool helps us quickly identify suspicious sources and understand how they affect performance, which significantly simplifies traffic control and reduces the amount of manual checks. The reports are convenient both for our internal team and for client communication. I’d also highlight the wide range of filters, fraud reasons, and additional data that we don’t have access to in the tracker as one of FraudScore’s key advantages. This gives us a much deeper understanding of what’s happening and helps us make more accurate decisions.
    Aleksandra Milyaeva, Lead Partner Manager at Realweb Agency
  • It’s important for us that advertising traffic is high-quality and brings real users to the platform. FraudScore helps us monitor campaign activity in real time and spot any irregularities or suspicious patterns. This allows us to optimize buying decisions faster and manage budgets more effectively.
    Andrey Kataev, Head of Performance Marketing at Start.ru
  • FraudScore’s fraud monitoring system is particularly useful in this regard as it allows daily check on affiliates conversions and indicates the level of fraud detected for each conversion. The fact that the system not only monitors normal desktop traffic, but, also tracks and accurately reports on mobile traffic in relation to Emulators, VPN’s, Bot farms and IP pattern recognition allows us to make informed decisions when reviewing assigned affiliate caps and encouraging more traffic.
    Darren Williamson, Managing Director at CAN
  • FraudScore has easy to handle and fast APIs which permitted us to integrate fraud analysis findings into our own dashboards. Their own interface is very intuitive and offers infinite possibilities in terms of filtering and digging into data. FraudScore team is very receptive to users feedback and continuously introduces improvements to their product.
    Luis Barrague, COO at Headway Digital, Spain
  • For more than two years of working with mobile traffic we have been tried a lot of anti-fraud services offered by the market. Therefore we can confidently say that the truly worthwhile solution is the FraudScore. Strong technologies, convenient interface and the most effective support – it’s all about FraudScore. Since we started collaboration with this service the volume of fraud traffic in Zorka.Network has been almost reduced to zero.
    Oleg Gorelik, Affiliate Director at Zorka.Network
  • Fraudscore has been our first line of defense against measuring questionable traffic. As the mobile digital advertising landscape continually expands, it becomes complex as it relates to user attribution measurement. The need for precise data has never been more important to the success of our business and our clients marketing efforts. FraudScore’s engineers made integration seamless and user friendly. The user interface allows us to interpret the data correctly and in real-time to make the right decisions as it relates to protecting our clients brand integrity. I highly recommend their services.
    Moufid Al-Joundi, Curate Mobile
  • At Brisk Ads we take drastic measures to combat fraud, and with the help of FraudScore we are able to detect and eliminate any suspicious traffic. With the in-depth reports provided, we are able to identify any questionable sources; making sure that our clients only pay for legit and profitable users.
    Omar Mostafa, Brisk Ads
  • We rely on FraudScore for projects where fast traffic evaluation and clear client communication are essential. The tool allows us to quickly assess incoming traffic and get a full picture without long exports or manual analysis. We especially appreciate its reliability and how easy the reports are to interpret, even for team members who aren’t deeply involved in anti-fraud. It simplifies communication and helps us make decisions faster.
    Nikita Shamin, Head of the Application Promotion Department at MediaNation Agency