Click fraud glossary

MFA (Made For Ads) refers to low-quality websites designed primarily to generate ad revenue through high ad density and minimal content value. These sites often feature repetitive, shallow text and aggressive ad placements, created to maximize clicks and impressions while providing little genuine user experience or meaningful information.

Malicious clicks are intentional, fraudulent clicks on online ads designed to drain an advertiser's budget and generate false website traffic. These fake interactions are typically performed by bots, competitors, or paid click farms to waste marketing money and artificially inflate engagement metrics, causing financial harm to businesses running digital advertising campaigns.

Malvertising is a sneaky online attack where hackers hide harmful code inside seemingly normal digital ads. These deceptive advertisements can secretly install malware, steal personal information, or redirect users to dangerous websites, potentially causing serious damage to websites and compromising user safety.

Malware is harmful software designed to damage, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems. For advertisers, malware can create fake clicks, generate invalid traffic, and drain advertising budgets by mimicking real user interactions on websites, ultimately costing businesses money through fraudulent ad engagement.

Meta Audience Network is an advertising platform that allows advertisers to display ads across multiple apps and websites beyond Facebook, potentially increasing the risk of click fraud. This network can generate invalid traffic from fake clicks, bots, and misleading ad placements, which can drain advertising budgets and skew performance metrics for unsuspecting businesses.

Misattribution fraud occurs when fraudsters falsely claim credit for generating website clicks or conversions, manipulating tracking systems to steal advertising revenue. This deceptive practice tricks advertisers into paying for supposed marketing efforts that did not actually generate genuine user interest or legitimate traffic.

Mobile ad fraud is a deceptive practice where scammers generate fake clicks, impressions, or app installations to steal advertising budgets. Fraudsters use bots, emulators, or click farms to create false traffic, making advertisers pay for interactions that never involve real potential customers.

A multi-session browser is a specialized web browsing tool that allows users to create and manage multiple separate browser profiles simultaneously. These browsers help fraudsters simulate different user identities and locations, making it easier to generate fake clicks and simulate artificial web traffic that can drain advertising budgets.