The New School Outlaws

The American Frontier was a time of exploration and expansion throughout western North America. It is considered the “wild west” because of the lack of laws and regulations at the time. Similarly, We are currently in the wild west of the technological era with big companies such as Facebook and Amazon affecting the power dynamics of the government and the economy. Today, there are new outlaws in town. Instead of holding up and looting people with in the traditional sense, they’re coming for your ad budget from the comfort of their homes.

This year alone, it is projected that $20 billion in ad budget has been taken by these mobile fraudsters. Jordan Greene of Mella Media refers to this as “the quietest digital epidemic”. The scammers target those with bigger budgets to have a higher net gain. There are many ways that they can scam but basically they pose as marketers who can help businesses gain traffic and conversions. These new day outlaws manipulate data in the reports to make the numbers look good for the client. Other tactics include downloading apps but not use it, and creating fake accounts.

Personally, I have been finessed by these fraudsters. I recently started a brand and we have been in business for less than a year. Being new to entrepreneurship, I was vulnerable because I really wanted my business to grow, not knowing that it takes time. I get numerous messages about doing shout outs on Instagram. One account approached us saying they will guarantee a certain number of followers for a specific price. The next morning, I woke up to 500+ followers which were all fake accounts and none of them liked our posts.

Greene suggests marketers and businesses to be familiar with their campaigns, and avoid offers that are too good to be. Contacting the main platform that is used is also a good way to understand the issue better.

Even though this is still an ongoing, complex situation, I believe new regulations will be set in place to help stop these fraudsters, similar to the wild west in the 1860s.

To learn more visit: https://www.adweek.com/digital/how-mobile-fraud-is-stealing-a-large-portion-of-your-ad-spend/