Dive Brief:
- Online security firm Telemetry has uncovered a ad-fraud scheme that has tricked advertisers out of millions of dollars -- at least $10 million in the last month alone.
- The scheme sold video ads that it stuck in nearly invisible windows inside cheap banner ads on popular sites -- piggybacking off the sites' traffic.
- The ads went undetected by anti-fraud measures for months and is the most significant instance of ad fraud seen by Telemetry.
Dive Insight:
Unfortunately, sometimes it is terribly difficult to understand where all the ad buys are being placed -- making it easy for fraudsters to take advantage of advertisers. The scary part is that even though Telemetry is bringing this fraud to public attention, because the operation is able to trick anti-fraud measures and shows all ads as 100% visible -- it is hard to stop. The measures are still occurring.