Digital advertising fraud ecosystem stirs up a $1.63-billion scam

Online deception threatens to jeopardise the digital transformation journey of brands, says a new report on ad frauds in India

At nearly nine per cent of the global bad ads business, India’s digital ad fraud ecosystem is thriving. It is a scam worth $1.63 billion at present and the numbers are likely to go up by 23 per cent in 2019 according to techARC Research, a firm that tracks digital advertising in the country. 

According to the company’s ‘India digital ad-fraud market report’ the problem is particularly rampant in the domains of banking and fintech, entertainment and gaming (especially video based) and healthcare and pharmaceuticals where the focus is on acquiring new customers.

Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst, techARC noted that