Insights

Digital ad fraud costs advertisers billions of dollars every year. In 2017 alone, digital ad spending reached $209 billion worldwide; however, experts suspect that anywhere from $6.5 billion to $65 billion of that spend was stolen by fraudsters without consequence. But now, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a warning shot, unsealing last month a 13-count indictment against eight Russian and Kazakhstani individuals for their alleged role in masterminding and operating two large ad fraud schemes—better known as “3ve” and “Methbot.” According to the DOJ release, these individuals allegedly stole more than $35 million in ad revenue using “sophisticated computer programming and infrastructure[s] around the world to exploit the digital advertising industry through fraud.” Does this enforcement action really signal the death knell for digital ad fraud or merely mark the start of a new phase for ever-evolving cybercriminal strategies?

Join the National Advertising Division (NAD) and Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) for their second West Coast Conference.