How to prevent all kinds of affiliated fraud?

the height is 15% Of the digital business revenue comes from affiliate marketing programs , During the outbreak , That's even higher ,42% Of affiliate publishers reported a surge in site traffic . 

If malicious actors intervene , Abuse loopholes in the tracking and attribution process to earn undue commissions , Businesses and their businesses will suffer , The problem arises . It is estimated that ,2020 The amount involved in the annual affiliated fraud amounted to 14 Billion dollars . With the continuous expansion of affiliate marketing , It may cause more serious money losses .

In this article , We will explore affiliate fraud and the methods most commonly used by fraudsters . We will also explain How to identify fraud , How to avoid being hurt by malicious acts .

How Affiliate fraud works ？

In the affiliate marketing plan , Any dishonesty to earn commissions 、 Unethical behavior belongs to affiliated fraud . In affiliate marketing , Publishers put online stores on their websites that guide other enterprises 、 Follow up links to products and registration pages . When users purchase products or register , League members will receive commissions . 

However , Many fraudsters attempt to forge activities , Artificially increase the flow introduced , To profit from the alliance marketing plan .

Affiliate marketing provides a variety of pricing models , Affiliate members can use different payment methods , for example Pay by mobile （CPA）、 Charge by boot number （CPL）、 Pay by clicks （PPC）、 Pay by the number of shows （CPI） Or celebrity marketing . Every pricing scheme has loopholes that fraudsters can exploit . 

Types of affiliated fraud

Alliance marketing processes are mostly automated , Lack of direct manual supervision , So fraudsters often have opportunities , Operate , Profit from it . Here are the fraud methods they often use .

01#Cookie fill

Browsers will be set up on all visitors' computers Cookie, To achieve personalized user experience and tracking . When a website maliciously treats a third party Cookie When it is put on the browser of visitors , It just happened Affiliated Cookie fill .

these Cookie Will lead to the use of affiliate marketing model businesses Mistakenly attributed the traffic to the fraudster . Lead to , The user members who really bring traffic to the business website lose . Because fraudsters constantly steal commissions , Alliance members will think it is unnecessary to participate in the Alliance Program .

02#URL hijacked

Mistakenly planted domain names are also known as UR hijacked , It mainly includes five seed types ：

● Common spelling mistakes or foreign language spelling in the target site . 

● Follow the spelling mistakes in the published text . 

● Plural or singular form of domain name .

● Different top-level domain names （ for example , Use .org Instead of .com）.

● Abuse the state / Region code top level field （ for example , Use .co Instead of .com）.

In this alliance fraud strategy , The fraudster Register a domain name similar to the business , But misspell the domain name in the most common way . When the user enters wrong URL when , Will log in the fraudulent domain name , Then be redirected to the real website , This increases the number of recommendations redirected from alliance members . 

03# Software development kit （SDK） forge

If application installation is involved , And the pricing mode is charging by installation , Such alliance marketing fraud may be the most profitable . under these circumstances , If the user registers and installs the application , Members of the alliance will receive commissions . 

SDK Forgery is a kind of The way to generate false traffic , Malicious actors can determine different applications SDK How to allocate installation and attribution data . for example , Fraudsters may Use malicious programs to monitor user activity , And receive notification at the beginning of each new application installation . after , They will use these user data to show that the real user's device has applications installed , In fact, this did not happen at all . 

04# Malware

Website visitors will inadvertently download malicious spyware , These software may be Advertising fraud forms appear , Like pop ups . This advertising software will secretly write the code into the user's browser , Artificially exaggerate the traffic data reported to merchants . 

Another kind of malicious spyware is “ loyalty ” Software . Alliance members will forcibly install such software on visitors' computers , Remind them that there are benefits and discounts when purchasing goods from a certain business . After installing this software , Users enter the merchant's website through the link of alliance members . Usually , Fraudsters will charge part of the Commission .

Four ways to prevent affiliate fraud  

Everyone may suffer from Alliance marketing fraud , Your enterprise may be the next target of malicious actors , Or have become victims . You must check the quality of your alliance network , about Small enterprises or newly established enterprises It's especially important .

The following ways can be used to prevent affiliate fraud , Prevent the adverse consequences of alliance members engaged in fraudulent activities in the market . 

01# Choose alliance members carefully  

For potential alliance partners at an early stage Be cautious . for example , Practicable Multi step application process , Manually confirm new alliance members . When testing potential alliance members , The potential alliance member must have a legitimate website , And the content is suitable for promoting your company's products .

02# Monitor traffic

Actively monitor your alliance members on a regular basis Analysis helps you detect affiliate fraud . You can find out from the same IP Suspicious traffic growth of the address 、 Page redirection or abnormal number of transactions . 

03# Allow device fingerprints

Every user who jumps to your conversion page will leave Digital footprint , This includes equipment information 、 Installed plug-ins 、 Time zone, etc . This information is called Device fingerprint . You can use this data to build visitor profiles , Check for any suspicious activity . for example , If you happen to notice that the same configuration appears repeatedly on the website , It may be that the fraudster is trying to deceive your system .

04# Using agents

You can check whether the alliance marketing partners are trusted by testing the alliance member links . A residential agent Best for this task , It can use the IP Check the localized alliance member content . Besides , This agent also helps when checking the affiliate website , Avoid unnecessary interception , And ensure complete anonymity .

As you can see , Agent is a powerful tool to detect alliance fraud .Oxylabs Strictly follow the ethical and legal principle of agency use , adopt KYC Process and openness Abuse Emails Purpose of monitoring agent .

summary

Although alliance marketing is one of the most effective ways to bring traffic to online businesses , But there are risks . Rampant affiliate fraud may seriously damage your company's financial condition and reputation . however , You can take precautions to prevent affiliate fraud , for example ： Closely monitor the flow 、 Enable device fingerprints and use agents . If you want to know more about affiliate fraud and prevention programs, you can visit at any time Our website , We will do everything we can to help .