What is mobile ad fraud?
Mobile ad fraud is fraud targeting ads inside apps and mobile web, especially app-install campaigns. It includes fake installs from bots, emulators and device farms, and attribution theft such as click injection and click spamming, where fraudsters claim credit and payouts for installs that would have happened anyway. It also covers hidden ads and spoofed apps.
Mobile fraud splits into two families. Fake-user fraud creates activity that never involved a real person: SDK spoofing sends fabricated install signals straight to measurement servers, while emulator farms and device farms generate installs at scale (install fraud). Attribution fraud steals credit for real users: Click injection fires a click just before a real install completes, and click spamming sprays huge numbers of fake clicks hoping to be the "last click" before organic installs.
MMPs such as AppsFlyer, Adjust and Kochava run fraud filters that reject installs with impossible timing, mismatched devices or known bad sources. Advertisers should also watch post-install quality: real users open the app again, register and spend; fake ones rarely do.