DeviceRank: The Cost of Mobile App Install and Engagement Fraud
Companies are investing a lot of money in mobile app development. Wherever the stakes are high, fraud seems to follow. According to a new report from DeviceRank, Mobile App install and engagement fraud will cost advertisers up to $350 million in 2016
AppsFlyer’s State of Mobile App Install & Engagement Fraud is based on the company’s DeviceRank™ technology – the industry’s first fraud prevention solution to identify and exclude fraud at the device level –and covers 500 million devices.
That forecast is based on different fraudulent activity, both verified and suspected:
- Mis-attribution of fraudulent click data.
- Paid installations from fraudulent devices.
- Fraudulent and simulated in-app events.
- Lookalike targeting and retargeting fraud.
Geographically, countries with the highest rates of app install and engagement ad fraud, when factoring for mobile population, are Germany, Australia, China, Canada and the U.K., followed by the U.S., Russia, and France. The research shows that fraudsters attempt to target specific countries depending on the potential payout they can get from falsifying their location to commit fraud.
Countries with the highest cost-per-install and cost-per-action payouts have a higher fraud rate, while regions with relatively low payouts – including Indonesia, India, Brazil, Vietnam, and Thailand have a lower fraud rate.
About DeviceRank
DeviceRank is the industry’s first mobile app fraud technology to identify and prevent fraud on the device-level. This unique technology uses the latest advances in big data and machine learning to deliver 3x to 12x better protection than industry-standard solutions.
As we’ve seen from our global study, fraudsters and scammers are growing increasingly sophisticated, tricking advertisers into paying for both installs and in-app engagement. DeviceRank takes a radically different approach, cutting off fraud at the source and adding transparency to our industry in order to protect advertisers, our partners and the entire market. Oren Kaniel, co-founder and CEO of AppsFlyer.
AppsFlyer’s DeviceRankTM technology works similarly to a Credit Score, identifying questionable behavior and offering enhanced protection. It leverages a proprietary big data-powered algorithm to build an anonymized, multidimensional rating of every mobile device.
Each device is rated on a scale from C (fraudulent), through B, A, AA and AAA. Devices with a “C” rating are automatically excluded from AppsFlyer’s attributed installs and analytics. With more than 1.4 trillion mobile interactions cataloged in our internal database over the past five years, and 98% of all mobile devices across the globe already rated, DeviceRank represents the most comprehensive fraud prevention technology in the world.
Additionally, DeviceRank’s unique architecture and machine learning allow the database and algorithms grow, learn and adapt as new mobile devices come online, new interactions are cataloged and user engagement patterns evolve.
