Trust & Safety
How AutoAds Tackles Advertising Click Fraud
At AutoAds, protecting campaign performance is a core part of how we operate. Our platform continuously evaluates ad traffic and flags suspicious activity so advertisers can trust their reporting and optimise with confidence. Below is a clear look at the fraud-prevention measures active in our click and impression tracking today.
Realtime validation
Every click and impression is checked before it is logged.
Speed-first logging
Fraud analysis runs without slowing down ad delivery.
Transparent scoring
Each event includes a fraud score and reason for review.
What we consider suspicious activity
Click fraud typically involves non-human or manipulated traffic that inflates performance metrics. Our system focuses on high-confidence signals and rapid anomaly checks that are visible in every event we log.
Fraud-prevention checks running today
1) Bot and crawler detection (User-Agent analysis)
We score every request based on its User-Agent header. Known bot and crawler patterns (including major search and social crawlers) trigger an immediate fraud flag. Requests without a User-Agent are also scored as high-risk.
2) IP visibility checks
The platform expects a valid forwarded IP address for ad events. When an IP address is missing or unknown, the event receives additional fraud risk scoring.
3) Rapid click-spam detection
We look for repeat clicks from the same IP address on the same campaign within a short window (seconds). If a rapid-fire pattern is detected, the click is flagged as potential spam.
4) Secure campaign & creative validation
Click requests are validated against our database to ensure the creative belongs to the campaign. If the parameters do not match, the request is rejected rather than redirected.
How we score and log suspicious events
Each click or impression is assigned a fraud score. If the score passes a defined threshold, the event is flagged and stored with a reason code (for example, “Known Bot User-Agent” or “Click Spam”). This gives advertisers and our internal team a clear audit trail without interrupting delivery or user experience.
What this means for advertisers
- Cleaner reporting with fraud indicators attached to each event.
- High-confidence bot traffic flagged in real time.
- Faster detection of abnormal click patterns that can distort campaign performance.
Need a deeper fraud analysis?
AutoAds can provide additional insights or custom reporting on request. If you want a deeper review of campaign activity, our team can help interpret fraud indicators and recommend next steps.
Quick Summary
- Bot User-Agent patterns are flagged.
- Rapid click bursts from a single IP are detected.
- Events are stored with fraud scores and reason labels.
- Creative-to-campaign mismatches are rejected.
We keep delivery fast
Fraud checks run quickly and logs are stored asynchronously to keep ad delivery responsive, even at scale.