Polygraph: Click Fraud Bots Are Using Unique IP Addresses To Avoid Common Detection Techniques

Click fraud bots are attempting to avoid detection by changing their IP addresses every time they click on adverts, but are still easily detected by Polygraph.

Click fraud detection and prevention service Polygraph is advising advertisers to be aware of click fraud bots using unique IP addresses every time they click on online advertisements.

“It’s pointless trying to prevent click fraud by blocking IP addresses,“ said Trey Vanes, Polygraph’s head of marketing. “Click fraud bots are using ‘residential proxy services’ to mask their true IP addresses, and generate unique IPs for every fake click.”

Click fraud is a crime which steals billions of dollars from advertisers every year. Scammers create websites and monetize the content using adverts. Instead of waiting for real people to visit their websites and click on the adverts, criminals program bots to simulate real visitors and click on the adverts on the scam websites. For each of these fake clicks, the advertisers pay fees to the advertising network, and the money is then shared with the scammers.

“Polygraph is detecting over 100 million fake clicks every month,“ said Vanes. “That works out at about two billion dollars’ worth of click fraud every year.”

“If we extrapolate that across every online advertiser, the amount of money being stolen is ginormous,” added Vanes.

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Click fraud bots use a number of techniques to make detection more difficult. This includes using different IP addresses for every fake click, and pretending each click comes from a unique internet user.

“The scammers doing click fraud are clever, however Polygraph is able to detect even their most devious click fraud techniques,” said Vanes. “In an attempt to avoid detection, click fraud bots use unique IP addresses which aren’t being monitored for fraud.

“Additionally, the bots randomise their ‘fingerprint’ – a unique identifier assigned to every internet connected device – so every fake click appears to be coming from an individual internet user.”

“Polygraph is able to detect these bots, regardless of what IP address or fingerprint is used”, added Vanes.

According to Vanes, trying to prevent click fraud by blocking IP addresses will not work.

“Trying to stop click fraud by blocking IP addresses sounds good, but in reality it doesn’t work,“ said Vanes. “Polygraph did a study on this and found IP address blocking will miss at least 95% of click fraud. That’s because click fraud bots use unique IP addresses for every fake click, so blocking the IPs is pointless.”

Polygraph provides click fraud detection and prevention services for online advertisers.

“We’ve helped many advertisers eliminate click fraud from their advertising campaigns,“ said Vanes. “We do this by dealing with the reality of the problem. This includes telling advertisers which of their ad keywords are being targeted by click fraud bots, so they can remove the keywords from their ad campaigns.

“We tell advertisers which scam websites are clicking on their ads, so they can block these websites from being allowed display or click on their ads.

“We give advertisers details of every fake click, including which bot software is being used, so they can apply for refunds from their advertising network.”

“Polygraph makes it easy to prevent click fraud,“ added Vanes.

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