10 Ways to Safeguard Your Brand from Affiliate Fraud

The affiliate marketing industry has been growing steadily over the past few years, driven by the increasing adoption of e-commerce and digital marketing. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global affiliate marketing market size was valued at USD 12.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0% from 2021 to 2028.

However, the industry has also been impacted by affiliate fraud in recent years, which has resulted in significant financial losses for businesses. In this article, we'll explore affiliate fraud, its impacts on businesses, and how to detect and prevent it.

What is Affiliate Fraud and Why It Happens?

Affiliate fraud is a fraudulent activity such as click fraud, cookie stuffing, and fake lead generation in which affiliates try to generate commissions by engaging in activities that violate the terms and conditions of an affiliate marketing program. It occurs when affiliates use unethical or illegal methods to artificially increase the number of clicks, leads, or sales they generate, to earn commissions without actually driving legitimate traffic or sales to a merchant's website.

According to a report by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), affiliate fraud is estimated to cost businesses up to USD 1.4 billion annually. This is a significant amount, considering the size of the affiliate marketing industry.

There are several reasons why affiliate fraud occurs. One of the main reasons is the commission-based structure of affiliate marketing programs. Affiliates are paid a commission for every click, lead, or sale they generate for a merchant. This incentivizes them to engage in fraudulent activities to earn more commissions.

Another reason why affiliate fraud occurs is that some affiliates are not ethical and try to make quick money without regard for the consequences of their actions. Additionally, the anonymity and global nature of the internet make it easier for fraudsters to engage in fraudulent activities without getting caught.

How Affiliate Fraud Impacts Businesses

One of the biggest impacts of affiliate fraud is that it damages the reputation of the affiliate marketing industry as a whole. Businesses that fall victim to affiliate fraud often become wary of working with affiliates, leading to a decline in trust and cooperation between merchants and affiliates.

Additionally, affiliate fraud can also result in financial losses for businesses. When fraudulent activities go undetected, merchants end up paying commissions to affiliates who haven't generated any real traffic or sales, resulting in wasted marketing spend. It can also lead to penalties from search engines, affiliate networks, and regulatory bodies.

16 Types of Affiliate Fraud

Several types of affiliate fraud can occur in affiliate marketing programs. Here are 16 common types of affiliate fraud:

1. Click fraud: This occurs when affiliates artificially inflate the number of clicks on their affiliate links or ads, often using automated software or bots. Click fraud can cause merchants to pay for clicks that have no real value or return on investment.

2. Cookie stuffing: This involves affiliates placing cookies on a user's computer without their knowledge or consent to falsely claim that they referred the user to a merchant's website. This can result in merchants paying commissions to affiliates who did not drive any real traffic or sales.

3. Spoofing Conversion Fraud: Spoofing Conversion Fraud is a type of affiliate marketing fraud where an affiliate falsely claims to have referred a user who has already been converted by another marketing channel, such as organic search, paid search, or direct traffic. This is typically done by using an unauthorized or fake cookie to overwrite the cookie from the legitimate marketing channel.

4. VPN & Proxies Fraud: VPN & Proxies Fraud occurs when an affiliate uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or proxy server to mask their actual location and falsely claims to be located in a target country or region. This can enable affiliates to bypass geolocation restrictions or qualify for higher payouts, leading to inaccurate tracking and lost revenue for merchants.

5. Duplicate IPs Fraud: Duplicate IPs Fraud occurs when an affiliate generates fraudulent clicks or conversions using multiple user accounts or devices that share the same IP address. This can be used to artificially inflate traffic or revenue and deceive merchants into paying commissions for non-existent or invalid leads.

6. Fraud Database: A Fraud Database is a collection of known fraudulent IP addresses, devices, user agents, and other information that can be used to identify and block fraudulent traffic or activity in affiliate marketing campaigns. This can help merchants prevent affiliate fraud and minimize financial losses.

7. Wrong App-Versioning Fraud: Wrong App-Versioning Fraud is a type of affiliate fraud that involves affiliates promoting outdated or fake versions of mobile apps to users, to generate fraudulent downloads or installs and earn commissions. This can deceive users and harm the reputation of legitimate app developers.

8. Spam Fraud: Spam Fraud is a type of affiliate marketing fraud that involves affiliates sending unsolicited and unwanted messages or emails to users, to drive traffic or generate leads. This can violate anti-spam laws, damage the reputation of merchants and affiliates, and lead to financial penalties or legal action.

9. False or fake leads: Affiliates may generate leads using fake or stolen information, such as email addresses or phone numbers, to earn commissions without actually generating legitimate leads for the merchant.

10. Parasitic marketing: This involves affiliates using adware or spyware to redirect users to a merchant's website without their knowledge or consent. This can result in merchants paying commissions to affiliates who did not drive any real traffic or sales.

11. Incentivized clicks: Some affiliates may offer incentives such as cash or prizes to users who click on their affiliate links or ads, to artificially inflate the number of clicks and earn more commissions.

12. Brand bidding: Affiliates may bid on a merchant's brand name or trademarked keywords in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, to redirect users to their affiliate links or ads. This can result in lost traffic and sales for the merchant, as well as a dilution of their brand identity.

13. Fake reviews: Affiliates may post fake reviews or testimonials for a merchant's products or services to drive more traffic and sales to their affiliate links or ads. This can mislead users and damage the merchant's reputation.

14. Ad stacking: This involves affiliates stacking multiple ads on top of each other, with only the top ad being visible to the user. This can result in merchants paying for ad impressions that are not seen by users, leading to wasted advertising spend.

15. URL Hijacking or Sneaky Redirects: URL Hijacking or Sneaky Redirects is a type of affiliate marketing fraud that involves the use of deceptive links or code to redirect traffic from a legitimate website to an illegitimate one. This can deceive users and lead to clicks, conversions, or sales being falsely attributed to affiliates who have not referred the user. In some cases, the hijacked URL can also lead to phishing scams or malware infections.

16. Using Stolen Data: Using Stolen Data is a type of affiliate marketing fraud that involves the use of stolen or fake personal information to generate fraudulent leads or sales. This can be done through the use of stolen credit card numbers, fake identities, or other forms of identity theft. This type of fraud can harm the reputation of merchants and affiliates, lead to financial losses, and violate privacy and data protection laws.

5 Ways to Detect Affiliate Fraud

Detecting affiliate fraud can be challenging, as fraudsters are continually coming up with new ways to evade detection. However, some common signs can indicate the presence of affiliate fraud, including:

1.   A sudden increase in traffic or sales that cannot be attributed to other marketing efforts.

2.   A high rate of chargebacks or refunds.

3.   Traffic coming from unusual or suspicious sources.

4.   Unusual patterns of clicks or conversions that are not consistent with normal user behaviour.

5.   Low-quality traffic does not result in any meaningful engagement or conversions.

10 Ways to Prevent Affiliate Fraud

Fraud detection software is one of the most effective ways to combat affiliate fraud. This software uses machine learning algorithms to analyze affiliate activity and detect patterns of fraudulent behaviour. By using this software, businesses can quickly identify and block fraudulent affiliates before they cause any damage.

Another way to prevent affiliate fraud is by setting up strict terms and conditions for affiliates. Businesses can require affiliates to adhere to specific guidelines and performance metrics to ensure that they are driving real traffic and sales. This helps to weed out fraudulent affiliates and build trust between merchants and affiliates.

Here Are 10 Effective Strategies for Preventing Affiliate Fraud:

1. Set clear guidelines: Establish clear guidelines for your affiliate program that outline what is and is not allowed. Clearly state the consequences of violating these guidelines, such as suspension or termination of the affiliate's account.

2. Set up strict acceptance criteria: Ensure that affiliates meet stringent acceptance criteria before joining your program. This may include a review of their website, business practices, and compliance with industry regulations.

3. Monitor traffic sources: Regularly monitor traffic sources to identify any suspicious activity. Use tools such as Google Analytics to track traffic and conversions and look for unusual patterns.

4. Use fraud detection tools: Implement fraud detection tools that can help identify fraudulent traffic and clicks. These tools use machine learning algorithms to analyze data and identify patterns of fraudulent activity.

5. Monitor affiliate behaviour: Keep a close eye on your affiliates' behaviour to ensure they are adhering to your guidelines. Look for any unusual activity, such as sudden spikes in traffic or sales.

6. Conduct due diligence: Verify the identity of your affiliates and conduct background checks to ensure they are legitimate. You can also use third-party affiliate networks that have already verified their affiliates.

7. Offer incentives carefully: Be cautious about offering incentives to customers or affiliates, as this can encourage fraud. Make sure any incentives you offer are legitimate and do not violate the terms of your affiliate program.

8. Establish clear communication: Establish clear communication channels with your affiliates so that they can report any suspicious activity they observe. Encourage them to be proactive in reporting fraud and reward them for doing so.

9. Regularly review your program: Regularly review your program to ensure that it complies with industry regulations and standards and adjust your policies and procedures as needed.

10. Avoid affiliates auto-approve: it's important to take proactive measures before approving new affiliates. Relying solely on post-approval due diligence may be too late and ineffective in detecting fraudulent behaviour. Instead, consider allowing program managers more time to thoroughly review affiliate requests and implement more stringent acceptance criteria.

Bloomclicks.com Affiliate Fraud Prevention Made Easy

Manually preventing affiliate fraud can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive task, particularly as affiliate programs grow in size and complexity. Fortunately, fraud detection and prevention software can offer a powerful solution.

By leveraging the tools and features provided by fraud prevention software, such as Bloomclicks.com, advertisers can gain valuable insights into traffic patterns and user behaviours. This includes access to detailed fraud reports and reason codes, enabling swift detection and resolution of fraudulent activity.

Bloomclicks.com platform tracks everything from impressions, clicks lead and conversions on both web, mobile & cross-device in real-time.

Our state-of-the-art platform is of a high-security standard that can identify and differentiate fraudulent traffic sources and fake conversions through advanced traffic pattern detection, with a multilayer fraud shield’s approach to detecting wide-ranging affiliate fraud. These frauds include spoofing conversion, click, spam, VPN & proxies, duplicate IPs, fraud database, wrong App-Versioning, Incentivized traffic, and much more in real-time analytics reporting. Bloomclicks whitelists and blacklists anti-fraud tokens ensure that no malicious traffic will go unnoticed from our in-house AI and ML fraud detection feature.

Additionally, Bloomclicks.com's machine learning-based fraud scoring system provides even deeper insights into partner performance and data, helping to mitigate attribution risks and detect stolen or recycled leads. With these capabilities, advertisers can confidently forge strong partnerships with trusted affiliates, without having to worry about fraud concerns.

In conclusion, the affiliate marketing industry has been growing steadily over the past few years, but affiliate fraud has impacted the industry significantly. Affiliate fraud damages the reputation of the industry, resulting in a decline in trust and cooperation between merchants and affiliates, and can also lead to financial losses for businesses. To combat affiliate fraud, businesses need to be vigilant and adopt effective measures to detect and prevent affiliate fraud, such as using fraud detection software, monitoring affiliate activity closely, setting up strict terms and conditions for affiliates, and conducting regular audits. By taking proactive measures to detect and prevent fraud, businesses can protect themselves from financial loss, and damage to their reputation.