Cybercriminals tend to go wherever the money is. So, it's not surprising that they are bombarding Mobile marketers. As the mobile ad market adds billions in spending every year, hackers and fraudsters have found clever ways to siphon off huge sums.

The cost of app-install fraud was estimated at $2 billion in 2017. That figure becomes less surprising when you learn that around 40 percent of the total mobile app inventory is fraudulent. When real and fake apps have roughly the same footprint, it's understandable while mobile fraud is so successful.

The total cost of mobile ad fraud is estimated to be as high as $16.4 billion. That means fraud is not just an annoyance, it is a critical threat. To underscore that point, consider how many types of fraud today's apps are under attack from:

• Basic Bots – Simple tasks like clicking an ad are automated and repeated on a huge scale.
• Advanced Bots – More advanced bots mimic human behaviors and bypass many tools for detection and deflection.
• Botnets – Large teams of bots are coordinated to make fake traffic look like real clicks or installs.
• Click Farms – Large teams of real people perform repetitive tasks that are disguised to look like organic traffic. 
• Invisible Ads – Fraudulent ads are hidden under real ads, basically piggybacking off whatever impressions the real ad receives. 
• Ad Injection – When unauthorized ads are forcefully placed on a mobile interface in a way that they cover up ads placed by legitimate marketers.