What are the signs that I am affected by invalid traffic?

Signs of invalid and bot traffic include: High bounce rates (for example in your CMP statistics or analytics tool) Low-quality leads Anything too high or too low (100% bounce rate, 0 seconds on site) Anything too random or too consistent (even traffic distribution every day, same outliers). Anything that doesn’t make common sense (a high volume of visitors at night) High traffic from a specific referral site coupled with an unusually high bounce rate Most traffic following a specific navigation pattern (all exiting on the same web page) For more information on how to detect bots using your own analytics data, see our article: How to detect IVT using your own analytics data

Am I a victim of advertising fraud?

The answer is probably yes. We have seen everything from 1% – 100% fraudulent traffic. What we’ve never seen, however, is 0%. On average, 16% of ad spend is wasted on fraudulent activity (e.g. fake ad clicks by bots , different forms of ad fraud like Retargeting Fraud , Domain Spoofing , Device Spoofing etc.). Even if you’ve been a victim of ad fraud before, it’s never too late to do something about it.

Aren't Google and Facebook already doing something about it?

Yes, Google and Facebook do detect fraudulent traffic, but many advertisers feel that they just don’t do enough.

Will fraud0 impact the performance of my website?

No. fraud0 was built to have no impact on your website.

Will my website visitors notice fraud0?

No, your website visitors won’t notice the use of fraud0.

Is fraud0 GDPR-compliant?

Yes. You have the express right to protect yourself from fraudulent activities. Our detection algorithms were built with a strict privacy first approach. There is no PII (personally identifiable information) needed to label fake traffic, but only standard JavaScript parameters.

How can I get started?

You can start immediately by creating a free account and be up and running within a few minutes.

How does fraud0 protect me?

fraud0 monitors your traffic 24/7 and provides you insights in the dashboard. Furthermore, IPs that have been recognized as bot or invalid traffic can be excluded from your campaigns. There are two ways this works: Via the Google Ads API IP addresses will be automatically excluded once set up. Furthermore, using your tag manager, Negative Audience groups are automatically created. These allow you to automatically exclude fake traffic on all channels such as Google Ads, Facebook, DV360, Microsoft Ads and many more. Thanks to our analytics suite , you can see exactly where fraudulent and low-quality traffic is coming from and react accordingly. For example, you can shift your advertising budget to campaigns that show more human traffic.

Will this also affect valid and converting user?

No. We only exclude fraudulent non-human users who have no intention to buy. And we only do so when we’re 100% certain.

Do I have to check the platform daily to get results?

No. That’s the main advantage of using the Google Ads API for excluding fraudulent IP addresses and the Negative Audience lists that we generate for you in real time. Once you set up the system (about 10 minutes), the lists are automatically updated and additionally added to all your major marketing platforms such as Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc. This eliminates unwanted traffic in real time and fully automatically on all your channels.

How does fraud0 detect fake traffic?

We analyze data discrepancies and behavioral anomalies. In addition, we apply a combination of real-time scoring, behavioral analysis, honey pots, browser testing, and other undisclosed techniques.

What types of invalid traffic exist?

Invalid traffic can be: Data Center Data centers are a popular location for malicious bot networks. As data centers are secured locations that humans generally do not have access to, traffic originating from a data center is most likely a bot. For example, a session originating from an Amazon AWS data center IP address block is unlikely to be a valid human user. Proxy By routing their traffic via residential proxies, bot developers obfuscate their location and identity. Allegedly, this is relevant traffic from important markets such as the USA, Germany, or the UK. However, it actually originates from countries such as India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. We keep a blacklist of known proxy connection details and IP addresses and flag traffic from these sources. Tor Tor, short for The Onion Router, is a protocol designed to anonymize internet traffic. Fraudsters can use Tor to disguise their location and usage information. Scrapers Malicious bots that scan websites for specific information such as email addresses, phone numbers, inventory details, or pricing data. This is often the case on e-commerce websites, where scraper bots are mostly used by competitors to undercut prices and increase their sales. Behavioral Anomalies Since bots are programs that perform repeatable actions, the exact repetition of activities can be an indication of non-human traffic. For example, to detect non-human traffic, we measure the intervals between clicks on a website. A human user has variable click intervals and patterns and does not behave with inhuman precision. Another example is measuring the number of clicks within a given session. A deviation from normal human activity may indicate that the user is a bot. When actions are performed by a script, the number of clicks can be very high or very low. Both can indicate suspicious activity. Automation Tools Fraudsters use tools like Puppeteer or Selenium, which were originally programmed to help developers test their work. However, these tools can also be used to easily create bots that visit websites and click on ads. False Representation False representation, also known as “user agent spoofing,” occurs when the browser’s user agent string is altered to disguise the user’s identity. When user agent tampering is present, there is a very high probability that the traffic is caused by a fraudulent user. The same is true for the rotation of the user agent identifier. Bots use rotating details (e.g., different browser type or operating system) for new sessions to impersonate a legitimate user. However, it is highly unlikely that the IP address of a real user would have constantly changing user agent details, since real people usually use the same devices and browsers. Cookie Rotation To avoid detection, bots also rotate cookies and referrer information. It would be suspicious if the same IP address (or other identifiers) is recorded with different cookies, since the normal ratio between a real user and his cookies is one-to-one. Plugin Analysis We analyze irregularities between installed plugins and browser functions to identify bot traffic. Blacklisted Referrer We maintain a block list of referrers that are known sources of poor traffic. These include bot farms, click farms, or fake websites based solely on bot traffic. Malicious Publisher Malicious publishers set up fake websites, fill them with plagiarized content, sign them up to ad networks, and then direct bot traffic to them. We maintain a block list of “malicious” publishers and flag traffic from these sources. Click Farms Click farms employ numerous low-paid workers to: click on advertisements like content share content comment on content subscribe to / follow accounts Typically, these organizations are located in developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Known Bots We maintain a blocklist of known bot and crawler names.

What exactly does 'detect on one platform, exclude on all platforms' mean?

When we detect unwanted clicks on one platform, we automatically exclude them on all other platforms as well. For example, if we detect invalid users on Google Ads, we also exclude them in your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn campaigns.

What about VPN connections?

The use of VPNs is a factor we take into account when analyzing for fraudulent activity. However, we do not block traffic solely for the reason that it came via a VPN connection.

What about Proxy connections?

Proxy connections are much more likely to be malicious than VPN connections. We keep a blacklist of known proxy connection details and IP addresses and flag traffic from these sources. Our analysis shows that over 99.3% of ad clicks from proxy networks are automated bots. That’s why we exclude traffic via proxy connections by default.

Is the free trial really for free?

Yes – without any commitment. You also don’t have to provide credit card details for the trial period.

Are there any plan limits during my free trial?

No. You can use the tool with all its features for free.

What happens after the free trial period?

During and after the free trial period, you can choose one of our monthly or annual subscription packages at any time.

How does the "Pro" plan differ from the "Starter" plan?

The main difference is the number of sessions available per month.

What if I exceed a plan's limit?

If you do not exceed the limit of your package regularly, nothing will happen. However, if you regularly exceed the limit of your package, we will upgrade you to a higher package – but not without informing you first. At no time will the fraud0 script stop working and affect your website in any way!

Are there any additional fees?

There are no strings attached and no additional fees.

How many landing pages do you support?

We support an unlimited number of landing pages for each domain on all of our packages.

Which payment methods do you accept?

We offer several payment options, including credit / debit card and PayPal. Your payment options depend on which country you live in.

I have just signed up. What should I do next?

First, you need to implement our provided script into your website. The code allows us to detect invalid traffic which will be shown in the dashboard. We recommend that you integrate the script directly into your website. This way, we can also detect bots that have already left your website (“bounce”) before the tag manager is loaded.

I just implemented the script. Will invalid traffic now be automatically excluded?

No. You’ll see the traffic data in your dashboard, but you’ll need to connect your Google Ads account for automatic IP address exclusion and set up “Negative Audience Lists” to exclude known invalid traffic from your advertising platforms like GoogleAds, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

How can I contact customer support?

Our friendly support team is ready to help out. Please email support@fraud0.com When you have created a free account already, please add your Workspace ID to the email, which can be found in the top-left corner.

Frequently Asked fraud0 Questions

“fraud0 detects the bots on our website and helps us to initiate appropriate measures.”

Mark Ngauv

 5/5

Managing Director / CMO @ RUFF CYCLES

“A single line of code on our website gives us visibility on how much fake traffic we are buying. Transparency and efficiency with fraud0 rocks!”

Lena Heil

 5/5

Senior Digital Marketing Manager @ Merz Aesthetics

“Great tool to increase performance. Real impact in just a few weeks. No-brainer.”

Alexander Geißenberger

 5/5

Founder & CEO @ XPOSE360

“Easy to implement cybersecurity software. It helps us in keeping our sales funnel clean by flagging bot-generated leads and stops loading onsite tools.”

Mischa Rürup

 5/5

Co-Founder @ Usercentrics

“Must have tool for every marketeer. fraud0 is giving us cleansed analytics data on key metrics such as our consent opt-in or invalid traffic rate.”

Tim Schmid

 5/5

Managing Director @ Avantgarde pmc

“Great software. And interesting to see what a single line of code reveals about the traffic quality on our sites!”

Saif Jarad

 5/5

Founder & CEO @ Chain Reaction

“Eye opening! Our paid campaigns were hit by 19% of fake traffic. fraud0 gives us back control. Great software.”

Felix Koleber

 5/5

Co-Founder & CEO @ Levia Blanket

“fraud0 is easy to implement and to use. Awesome team, helps us to protect our audience and placements from bots.”

Martina Rinner

 5/5

Head of Online Marketing @ Forum Verlag Herkert GmbH

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is fraud0 for me?

How does fraud0 work?

Choosing a plan

Getting started

Customer Support

Still have questions?

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Data Center	Data centers are a popular location for malicious bot networks. As data centers are secured locations that humans generally do not have access to, traffic originating from a data center is most likely a bot. For example, a session originating from an Amazon AWS data center IP address block is unlikely to be a valid human user.
Proxy	By routing their traffic via residential proxies, bot developers obfuscate their location and identity. Allegedly, this is relevant traffic from important markets such as the USA, Germany, or the UK. However, it actually originates from countries such as India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. We keep a blacklist of known proxy connection details and IP addresses and flag traffic from these sources.
Tor	Tor, short for The Onion Router, is a protocol designed to anonymize internet traffic. Fraudsters can use Tor to disguise their location and usage information.
Scrapers	Malicious bots that scan websites for specific information such as email addresses, phone numbers, inventory details, or pricing data. This is often the case on e-commerce websites, where scraper bots are mostly used by competitors to undercut prices and increase their sales.
Behavioral Anomalies	Since bots are programs that perform repeatable actions, the exact repetition of activities can be an indication of non-human traffic. For example, to detect non-human traffic, we measure the intervals between clicks on a website. A human user has variable click intervals and patterns and does not behave with inhuman precision. Another example is measuring the number of clicks within a given session. A deviation from normal human activity may indicate that the user is a bot. When actions are performed by a script, the number of clicks can be very high or very low. Both can indicate suspicious activity.
Automation Tools	Fraudsters use tools like Puppeteer or Selenium, which were originally programmed to help developers test their work. However, these tools can also be used to easily create bots that visit websites and click on ads.
False Representation	False representation, also known as “user agent spoofing,” occurs when the browser’s user agent string is altered to disguise the user’s identity. When user agent tampering is present, there is a very high probability that the traffic is caused by a fraudulent user. The same is true for the rotation of the user agent identifier. Bots use rotating details (e.g., different browser type or operating system) for new sessions to impersonate a legitimate user. However, it is highly unlikely that the IP address of a real user would have constantly changing user agent details, since real people usually use the same devices and browsers.
Cookie Rotation	To avoid detection, bots also rotate cookies and referrer information. It would be suspicious if the same IP address (or other identifiers) is recorded with different cookies, since the normal ratio between a real user and his cookies is one-to-one.
Plugin Analysis	We analyze irregularities between installed plugins and browser functions to identify bot traffic.
Blacklisted Referrer	We maintain a block list of referrers that are known sources of poor traffic. These include bot farms, click farms, or fake websites based solely on bot traffic.
Malicious Publisher	Malicious publishers set up fake websites, fill them with plagiarized content, sign them up to ad networks, and then direct bot traffic to them. We maintain a block list of “malicious” publishers and flag traffic from these sources.
Click Farms	Click farms employ numerous low-paid workers to: click on advertisements like content share content comment on content subscribe to / follow accounts Typically, these organizations are located in developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Known Bots	We maintain a blocklist of known bot and crawler names.