Stop paying for clicks that were never human
{ "ip_address": "203.0.113.42", "is_hosting": true, "is_vpn": false, "is_proxy": true, "is_tor": false, "is_abuse": true, "asn_type": "hosting" }
The signals that flag ad fraud
Known-abuse IPs already tied to bot and click-fraud networks.
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How to stop ad fraud
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Frequently asked questions
What is ad fraud?
Ad fraud is any scheme that generates fake clicks, impressions, or leads to drain an advertiser's budget. Bots, click farms, and traffic sent through VPNs, proxies, and data centers imitate real users so fraudsters collect payouts. It wastes ad spend and pollutes the analytics you use to make decisions.
What is invalid traffic (IVT)?
Invalid traffic, or IVT, is any ad interaction that does not come from a genuine, interested human. It splits into general invalid traffic (GIVT), like known bots and data-center IPs that are easy to filter, and sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT), which hides behind residential proxies and needs deeper signals to catch.
What is click fraud and how do you detect it?
Click fraud is repeated fake clicks on paid ads to burn a competitor's budget or inflate a publisher's payout. You detect it by looking at the source: clicks from data-center or hosting IPs, VPNs, proxies, and Tor, plus abnormal click volume from a single network, are strong signs the traffic is not human.
How much ad spend is lost to fraud?
Industry estimates run into the tens of billions of dollars a year, and analysts expect the number to keep climbing as more budget moves to programmatic. A meaningful share of every digital ad budget is lost to invalid traffic, which is why filtering fraud before and after the click protects real return on ad spend.
Can you stop ad fraud on lead-gen campaigns?
Yes, and it is our sharpest angle. Lead-gen fraud is fake form fills that waste both ad spend and sales time. Abstract validates the lead itself: flag disposable emails and VOIP phone numbers, and check the IP for VPN, proxy, or data-center origin, so junk leads never reach your CRM or your reps.
What are the main types of ad fraud?
The main types are click fraud (fake clicks on ads), impression fraud (fake ad views), lead-gen fraud (fake form fills), and install fraud (fake app installs). They share the same root: automated or incentivized traffic pretending to be a real, interested person.
How does Abstract help detect ad fraud?
Call Abstract's IP Intelligence API on the click and its Email and Phone Validation APIs on any lead a campaign captures. You get clear flags for hosting IPs, VPN, proxy, Tor, abuse, disposable email, and VOIP numbers. Abstract flags infrastructure-level fraud signals; it is not an MRC-accredited IVT vendor, so pair it with your ad platform's own filtering.
