BERLIN, Dec. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Click fraud detection service Polygraph is warning marketers about a click fraud scam which is causing marketing e-mails to be opened by bots.
Click fraud is an online crime which steals billions of dollars from advertisers every year. Criminals create websites and monetize the content using pay-per-click advertisements. Instead of waiting for real people to visit their websites, the criminals program bots to visit their websites and click on the ads. For each of these fake clicks, the advertisers pay money to the advertising networks, and the money is then shared with the scammers.
A challenge faced by the criminals is their bots never purchase anything at the advertisers’ websites. This risks the advertising networks flagging the scammers’ traffic as low quality. To get around this problem, click fraud bots are programmed to generate fake conversions at advertisers’ websites, such as filling out leads forms or creating accounts.
According to Trey Vanes, head of marketing at Polygraph, fake conversions are causing marketing e-mails to be opened by bots.
“When a click fraud bot fakes a conversion by creating an account at an advertiser’s website, the scammer receives an e-mail with a link to activate the account. To ensure these e-mails are handled correctly, bots are programmed to monitor the scammer’s inbox for new e-mails, and click on any links in those e-mails,” said Vanes.
“This tricks the advertisers…
