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Fraudulent Internet Yellow Pages Traffic
- 1. Search Advertising for Small Business Fraudulent Internet Yellow Pages Traffic
- 3. What’s A Bot? A Bot is: A Malicious Software Program that infects a home computer and simulates Human Activity Controlled by a Criminal who makes money selling fraudulent web traffic Capable of simulating chats and clicks, rendering ads, and impersonating real computer users A Single Infected Home Computer that is often Combined with other Bots in a Group called a Botnet
- 4. 2014 Fraudulent Bot Traffic Report 63 to 80% of Traffic to Small and Medium-size websites came from Bots
- 5. Financial Impact of Fraudulent Bot Traffic
- 6. Fraudulent Bot Traffic Worthless to small and medium-size businesses Mixed in with legitimate unique visitor, click, and page view data Purchased by IYP publishers for fractions of a cent and resold to small business advertisers with a huge markup Fraudulent Bot Traffic is: Acquired from IYPs’ Networks of Local Publishers Indistinguishable from real online ad performance data http://digimechanix.com
- 7. Be used in collections of computers called Botnets that are controlled by fraudsters Render ads on websites Distribute malware disguised as popular search items or games on download sites Masquerade as legitimate search engine crawlers Impersonate Real Unique Visitors Impersonator Bots Confound IYP Results Impersonator Bots can :
- 8. Attack of the Impersonator Bots http://digimechanix.com
- 9. Bots Spread Across the U.S.
- 10. Bot Traffic Comes from Residential IP Addresses http://digimechanix.com
- 11. Bots Hijack Home Computers Log in to large email exchanges Share/View content on Social Media websites Make purchases on ecommerce sites Computer users unknowingly invite Bots into their home computers when they: http://digimechanix.com Download Free Apps and Games
- 12. Consumers are Infected by Bots http://digimechanix.com
- 13. Symptoms of Bot Infections
- 14. Free = Fraud =
- 15. The Price of Free Software is Too High http://digimechanix.com
- 16. Anatomy of IYP Fraud
- 17. Internet Yellow Pages publishers benefit from Bots because they: Mimic the profiles of the real consumers whose computers they infect Click on ads and links more often than real people do Move the cursor on webpages making sure to pass over ads Visit various websites to generate user histories and cookies Place items in online shopping carts Bots Inflate IYP Results
- 18. Prevalence of Internet Yellow Pages Fraud Internet Yellow Pages fraud from Bot traffic is more likely to occur: http://digimechanix.com
- 19. Prevalence of Internet Yellow Pages Fraud Internet Yellow Pages Fraud from Bot Traffic is more likely to occur:
- 20. Fraudulent IYP Traffic Occurs at Overnight http://digimechanix.com
- 21. Fraudulent Saturday Afternoon IYP Traffic
- 22. Who Benefits from Fraudulent IYP Traffic? The Sales and Distribution of Fraudulent Bot Traffic: Pumps Up Internet Yellow Pages Profits Inflates Ad Performance and Advertiser Fees Increases the percentages paid to ad Exchanges and Networks of Local Publishers Provides a profitable income stream for cyber thieves Allows Ad Agencies to Over-estimate Their Effectiveness http://digimechanix.com
- 23. 2014 Estimated Fraudulent IYP Traffic by Category http://digimechanix.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Restaurants Locksmiths Attorneys Plumbers Dentist/Physicians Bailbondsmen Fraudulent Traffic In-House Traffic Human Traffic
- 25. Summary 56% of all online traffic comes from Bots IYPs purchase fraudulent traffic from members of their Networks of Local Publishers Impersonator Bots are the most harmful type of malware to IYP advertisers IYP advertisers will pay about $1 billion for worthless, fraudulent Bot traffic in 2015 67% of fraudulent Bot traffic originates from home computers infected with malware
- 26. Summary 63 to 80% of IYP Traffic to Small and medium-size websites comes from Bots Over 20% of video ad impressions reported by IYP publishers come from fraudulent Bot Traffic Fraudulent IYP Traffic is more likely to occur everyday between midnight and 6 am and on Saturday afternoons 52% of the traffic purchased from IYP’s Networks of Local Publishers is fraudulent Over 50% of IYP traffic received by advertisers in the Legal, Plumbing, and Dentists/Physicians categories came from Bots http://digimechanix.com
- 27. Recommendations for IYP Advertisers Apply day-parting strategies whenever possible Avoid signing long-term IYP contracts to limit exposure to Fraudulent Bot Traffic Carefully scrutinize monthly IYP Traffic reports Investigate how IYPs’ Networks of Local Publishers source traffic
- 28. Recommendations for IYP Advertisers Avoid IYP publishers that do not publicize Blacklists of fraudulent IP addresses and traffic sources Be aware that video ad plays are often generated by Bots rather than humans Demand transparency from IYP publishers regarding all third-party sources of traffic http://digimechanix.com Request a regularly scheduled, independent third-party IYP Traffic Audit
- 29. For More Information Visit Us at: http://digimechanix.com
- 31. Fraudulent IYP Traffic System http://digimechanix.com
Editor's Notes
- Warning: The internet advertising market is dangerous, unregulated and crawling with bots, scammers, and questionable traffic. There’s a serious risk a quarter of your ads will never be seen by a real person, and even the biggest publishers aren’t safe. So Internet Yellow Pages advertisers beware of the Bots.
- A bot is: A malicious software program that infects a home computer and simulates human activity Controlled by a criminal who makes money selling fraudulent web traffic A single infected home computer that is often combined with other Bots in a group called a Botnet Capable of simulating chats and clicks, rendering ads, and impersonating real computer users
- In 2014 56% of all online traffic was generated by bots only 44% was generated by humans. This means that those Internet Yellow Pages and local search engines that claim a billion annual unique visitors may only have about 450,000 unique human visitors every year. Also in 2014, 63 to 80 percent of traffic to small and medium-size business websites came from Bots. Many of these websites were built, hosted, and maintained by Internet Yellow Pages publishers.
- Worldwide advertisers will lose $6.3 billion dollars to Bots in 2015. It is estimated that internet yellow pages and local search engine advertisers will lose about $1 billion this year. While it’s not the only type of online advertising fraud today, fraudulent bot traffic is the most prevalent and fastest growing.
- Fraudulent Bot traffic is purchased by IYP publishers for fractions of a cent and resold to small business advertisers at a hefty profit, mixed in with legitimate unique visitor, click, and page view data, indistinguishable from real traffic, acquired from IYP publishers’ Networks of Local Publishers, worthless to small and medium-size businesses
- Impersonator Bots are most harmful to IYP advertisers because they can join together in botnets that are controlled by criminals, render ads on websites, distribute viruses and worms on game or download sites, masquerade as legitimate search engine crawlers, and impersonate REAL unique visitors
- 22% of all Bot traffic are Impersonator Bots right now but their popularity is steadily increasing. Criminals use Impersonator Bots so frequently because they can generate the type of cheap and profitable traffic that IYP publishers and their Networks of Local Publishers (NLPs) want.
- Fraudulent advertiser traffic comes from home computers across the nation. No single advertiser large or small is immune to criminals who use bots to steal ad dollars. However, small and medium-size businesses who can’t afford sophisticated online security measures are most susceptible to ad fraud.
- 67 percent of fraudulent Bot traffic came from residential IP addresses or home computers by comparison only 1 percent came from mobile networks. However, the use of malicious mobile bots will probably increase along with the popularity of mobile search because that’s where ad dollars are moving.
- Bots infect home computers when users download free software while they are checking email, download free apps and games, share or view content on Social Media websites, or make purchases on ecommerce site A significant proportion of online consumers are at risk because they fail to enable online security measures.
- 37% of women, 29% of men, and 41% of computer users between the ages of 18 and 44 do not use online security measures 23% of computer users and 19% of smartphone users download unknown files and weblinks 56% of smartphone users and 40% of computer users do not download the latest software and security updates And surprisingly, 37% of online consumers occasionally don’t install security software and 13% of online consumers occasionally turn off security software. This means that about half of all online consumers are vulnerable to bot attacks at all times.
- As a result 42% of online consumers have suffered an online security issue, 9% lost photos and important work, and 6% had credit card details stolen. Unfortunately, most of us are not even aware when we get infected.
- When it comes to online research, shopping or socializing, in general FREE = FRAUD.
- Consumers don’t realize that the real price for most of the free online games and software that they download is giving remote access control over their home computers and wireless networks to cyber criminals. In general, this is how fraudulent Internet Yellow Pages traffic gets created.
- Up close the scheme looks like this. A computer user clicks on a malicious software or web link. This infects the computer with a bot that gives a criminal remote access to and control over the computer. The cyber criminal creates a botnet with a group of home computers and builds a phantom website to create fraudulent clicks, impressions, and fake unique visitors. Criminals make deals with Networks of Local Publishers who sell online traffic to Internet Yellow Pages and local search engines . The process is repeated over and over as long as there are customers for the fraudulent traffic. This drives fraudulent searches, clicks, and impressions to IYPs and local search engines. Bogus ads, clicks and unique visitor data are generated by bots. This fraudulent traffic data gets included with legitimate data on IYP advertisers’ monthly performance reports and more importantly small business advertisers pay handsomely for it.
- Internet Yellow Pages Publishers target Bots because they: Mimic the profiles of real consumers Generate fraudulent histories and cookies by visiting various websites Click on ads and links more often than humans Emulate cursor movements over ads Place items in online shopping carts
- Fraudulent IYP traffic is more likely to come from: 17 to 19% of Programmed or retargeted clicks and impressions from online aggregators, pay per click networks, and search engines came from bots 52% of the traffic that IYP publishers purchase from members of their Networks of Local Publishers is fraudulent In specific advertiser categories like finance, family and food domains 16 to 22% of the online traffic came from bots
- 11% of all display ad impression Internet Yellow Pages sites are rendered by bots 23% of video ad impressions are generated by bots About half of bot clicks and impressions on IYPs and local search engines occur during Holidays and overnight after normal business hours
- In fact, fraudulent Internet Yellow Pages traffic is more likely to occur well after normal business hours. Bot traffic is far more prevalent during Holidays and between the hours of midnight and 6am.
- Each of the lines on this chart represents IYP traffic at noon on Saturday during a typical three month period. Saturday afternoon bot traffic on IYPs and local search engines is sometimes 4-800 times the normal hourly traffic on weekdays. Most IYP advertisers to do not take note of this trend on their monthly IYP traffic reports.
- Fraudulent Bot Traffic: -Inflates IYP profits -Inflates Ad Performance and Ad fees -Increases the percentages paid to ad exchanges and Networks of Local Publishers -Provides a profitable income stream for cyber thieves -Allows Ad Agencies to over-estimate their effectiveness In this scheme everyone wins except small and moderate size business advertisers.
- A recent analysis compared three types of IYP traffic: fraudulent traffic, in-house traffic from IYP sales, customer service, and technical staffs, and traffic from legitimate human searchers for several popular IYP categories. It is estimated that at least 50% of the traffic received by advertisers in the Plumbers, attorneys, Locksmiths, and Dentists/Physicians categories came from bots, while less than 25% of the IYP traffic they received was legitimate human traffic. In addition, 62% of the IYP traffic received by Restaurant advertisers was fraudulent while only 20% came from human searchers.
- Fraudulent IYP traffic is troublesome in other business categories as well. Another analysis found that Bots were responsible for 22% of the IYP traffic reported to advertisers in the financial services, 18% of the traffic reported in family services, and 16% of the traffic reported by food companies.
- In summary, the key points are these: 56% of all online traffic comes from Bots IYPs purchase fraudulent traffic from members of their Networks of Local Publishers Impersonator Bots are the most harmful type of malware to IYP advertisers IYP advertisers will pay over $1 billion for worthless, fraudulent traffic in 2015 67% of fraudulent Bot traffic originates from home computers infected with malware
- 63 to 80% of IYP traffic to small and moderate size business websites that are built and hosted by IYP publishers comes from Bots Over 20% of video impressions on IYP sites originates from Bots Fraudulent Bot traffic is more likely to occur everyday between midnight and 6 am and on Saturday afternoons 52% of the traffic purchased from IYP’s Networks of Local Publishers is fraudulent Over 50% of IYP traffic received by advertisers in the Legal, Plumbing, and Dentists/Physicians categories came from Bots
- Given this state of affairs, small business advertisers must: Carefully scrutinize monthly IYP traffic reports Avoid signing long-term annual IYP contracts to limit exposure to fraud Apply day-parting to avoid times when Bots are most active Investigate how IYP publishers’ Networks of Local Publishers source online traffic
- Request a regularly scheduled, independent third-party IYP traffic audit Demand that IYP publishers divulge sources of traffic Be aware that video ad plays are often generated by Bots Avoid IYP publishers who do not publish ongoing blacklists of fraudulent IP addresses and traffic sources
- For more information visit us at: http://digimechanix.com. DMX Advertising & Marketing Consultants
- Here’s how the system works. Criminals create bogus clicks and impressions with home computers in botnets. Bots generate video plays and social media likes on phantom websites created by the criminals. Cyber Traffic Suppliers use pay per click and anonymous search engine traffic to fulfill contracts with internet traffic brokers and ad exchanges. Internet traffic brokers purchase fraudulent traffic and mix it with traffic from legitimate websites. Internet Yellow Pages publishers purchase fraudulent traffic from search engines and their third party Networks of Local Publishers for fractions of a penny per click. Small business advertisers and ad agencies pay premium prices for worthless online traffic that is hidden laundered in this way.