Mobile devices offer special vulnerabilities to fraud

Fraud hits online publishers and advertisers on every platform, but mobile devices offer some special opportunities. And, as the types of mobile devices increase, the types of special vulnerabilities are likely to increase.

To get a sense of a few mobile-specific fraud weaknesses, we checked in recently with several experts.

For Maor Sadra, managing director and CRO of mobile ad platform AppLift, last-touch attribution for app installs is a key weak spot.

App installs are mostly priced as cost-per-install (CPI), he noted, where the advertiser whose ad is the customer’s last touch point gets the attributed credit — and therefore the payment for the app install.

“This is flawed by nature,” he said, since the first ad impression has the biggest impact. While multitouch attribution is becoming more common for many kinds of sales or actions, Sadra said last touch point is still common for app install payments.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About The Author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.