Why Does a Company Need Affiliate Fraud Detection Solutions?

 Companies have received more innovative opportunities with the advent of the Internet. This revolution has allowed them to reach out to newer audiences and markets with specified niches. Without the implementation of online marketing, marketing teams might have remained unreachable to half the section of their loyal customers.

That makes affiliate marketing an effective tool. It has empowered companies of the current epoch. But affiliate marketing has a downside – affiliate fraud. This post elucidates why a company needs affiliate fraud protection solutions.

What is The Main Purpose of Affiliate Fraud?

Affiliate or ad frauds are illegal activities aiming to mislead marketers into paying earned commissions. Malicious actors may apply different techniques to mislead marketing teams into paying affiliate commissions. They deploy strategies to trick marketers into paying unearned commissions. In short, affiliate fraud might fall into one of these camps:

ü  The fraudster either implements deceptive methods to convince cardholders to make the purchase or

ü  The malicious actors may steal customers' private details & submit fake transactions

In any of these cases, the cardholder will file the chargeback & recoup their lost funds. After the marketing team discovers the fraud, the affiliate disappears and already has the commission check cashed and disappeared.

Different Ways How Affiliate Fraud Works

The affiliate program might out a whopping amount of money a user spends on the affiliate marketer. So, it becomes a target for fraud. Affiliate fraud may happen in different forms. Here are a few mentioned in the given pointers.

ü  Spamming Techniques: It promotes products with bulk e-mails

ü  Traffic Diverting & Parasite Websites: It diverts traffic from legitimate affiliates to fraudster's websites

ü  Typosquatting (different spellings of vendor's domain): Registering variations of a successful vendor's domain name may lure unaware buyers

ü  Cookie Hijacking: Also known as cookie dropping, cookie hijacking or staffing is a technique where users receive one or more cookies from unrelated websites

ü  Illegal Transactions: It's when fraudsters make purchases using the stolen credit card credentials

ü  Website Cloning: It's when the fraudsters copy legitimate affiliate's websites & content to mislead genuine prospects

ü  Fake Clicks & Referrals: It's when the malicious actors use software or scripts, imitating human behavior and generating false clicks &transactions

What Are the Consequences of Affiliate Fraud?

Affiliate fraud can occur when affiliates misrepresent their role in generating sales. People stay online, which triggers a shift to the remote working environment. Affiliate marketing fraud steams the money out of a company's budget. It puts them in the fraudster's pocket without generating real profit.

A company should, thus, hire a company that offers solutions for affiliate monitoring if it anticipates any threats. Otherwise, it might experience the following repercussions:

#1 Loss of confidence in affiliate marketing

Affiliate fraud might wear away confidence in the marketing channel's performance. Fraud tarnishes the whole affiliate industry's reputation, causing advertisers to steer clear of the potentially effective marketing channel. Besides, it can also harm legitimate publishers experiencing reduced revenue.

#2 Losses of Productivity and Time

A sales force that chases fake leads is wasteful. In fact, it may also be detrimental to the revenue goals. Fraudulent conversions, clawbacks, chargebacks, and discrepancies may result from the fraud. And managing them may be daunting for both managers and staff. It consumes hours that the professionals spend in more productive areas, such as implementing new strategies to generate sales.

#3 Misled Strategies Owing to Poor Metrics &Inaccurate Data

Any lead, click, or install generated from campaigns can affect a marketer's direction during any subsequent campaign. Affiliate fraud may add to misleading campaigns by causing marketing teams to allocate funds & attention to the market's inappropriate areas. Tainted information may disrupt the forthcoming campaigns. It might cause marketers to allocate attention & funds to a market's insignificant areas.

Signs that Indicate a Company Is Experiencing Affiliate Fraud

Affiliate fraud is affiliate marketing's catastrophic aspect. Therefore, if the company experiences any of these impacts, it might indicate ad fraud.

Ø  Non-Existent or Irregular Activity: It's when you discover suspicious activities

Ø  Easily Achieved Changing Campaign Goals: It's when campaign goals get accomplished even after altering them a lot of times

Ø  Generating Traffic Yet No Sales: It's when your company generates traffic but fails to convert leads into sales

Ø  Unusual Uptick In Refunds or Chargebacks from the Credit Card Sales: Fraudsters may do anything to create false sales with the stolen card information

Ø  Unresponsive Leads (Or They May Not Know Your Company): Even after paying money for the lead, they aren't familiar with your company or services

Need Assistance to Combat Affiliate Fraud? Consult Virus Positive Technologies Today

At Virus Positive Technologies, professionals can assist you with affiliate fraud detection. So, if your marketing team needs professional consultation for affiliate fraud, consult the team. VPT is a pioneer in foreseeing and eliminating potential brand-damaging impacts. For fraud monitoring solutions, consult the adept team of professionals at VPT.