Click fraud

Click fraud covers clicks that pose as human interest but are not: botnets activating links automatically, click farms where people are paid per click, scripts firing clicks in the background, and automated traffic sent at paid ads. The motive varies – triggering click payments, draining a competitor's ad budget or hiding other fraud in the noise.

The payment model determines the shape of the damage. In CPC deals, where every click is paid for, every fake click is a direct loss. In CPS programs, where payment only happens on a sale, fake clicks trigger no commission – but they ruin the data: EPC and conversion rate fall, skilled affiliates look worse than they are, and stores misjudge placements. Fake clicks are also used as cover for cookie stuffing, where the aim is to plant attribution ahead of other people's purchases.

The signals are recognisable: series of clicks from the same IP range or data centre addresses, user agents that reveal automation, clicks with no subsequent behaviour on the landing page, unnatural timing patterns and sudden spikes with no matching content or campaigns. The defence is layered – filtering known bot signatures at the source, logging every event for later analysis, and human review of patterns before anything is paid out.