DoubleVerify – an ad verification platform for digital media – has exposed a CTV ad fraud scheme that was attempting to steal over $8 million a month in ad spend across connected TV and mobile video channels. The scheme – dubbed ‘ViperBot’ – continues to spoof over five million devices and generates 85 million ad requests daily. DoubleVerify said this has the effect of “undercutting ad investments and performance when solutions that can protect against ViperBot are not implemented.”
ViperBot works by verification stripping – fraudsters removing the verification tags previously set by a measurement provider. DoubleVerify notes that while this approach to ad fraud can normally be identified by advanced measurement companies, in this case the fraudsters have “taken verification stripping to the next level.” By stripping the code that verifies ad impression and then hiding and redirecting this code through cheap ad slots on real devices, ViperBot was able to hide its fraudulent activity.
DoubleVerify has called this technique ‘verification redirection’ and has blocked the falsified impressions and ad requests for customers of its platform.
Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify, said: “ViperBot is one of the most sophisticated fraud schemes that DV has ever identified. The dynamic nature of fraud schemes underscores the fact that advertisers need a partner who is laser focused on protecting their interests – and who operates independent of the media transaction to remain neutral when determining the quality of inventory.
“Efficient and transparent media buying leads to better outcomes for brands. By uncovering ViperBot, we are able to give brands greater confidence in their digital investment while ensuring campaign performance.”
Jack Smith, Chief Product Officer at DoubleVerify, said: “As fraudsters continue to evolve and aggressively target high-value inventory types, measurement providers need to catch up. We’re seeing this happen in CTV and mobile inventory, where higher CPMs make it a more attractive target, but this new redirection tactic can be applied across many environments.”
The company, alongside other ad verification companies Human and Oracle Moat, previously helped shut down other multimillion-dollar ad fraud schemes such as ParrotTerra, StreamScam and ICEBUCKET.
