A New York-based technology firm says it has identified a new connected TV advertising fraud scheme.
Dubbed ‘Smokescreen’ it causes screensavers to hijack smart TVs to generate impressions, even when the scfreen is off.
DoubleVerify’s Fraud Lab says once the consumer downloads the malicious screensaver, SmokeScreen generates impressions en masse using falsified data and allowing impressions to continuously run in the background. The user has no idea ads are being continuously served on the device, even when the CTV screen is off. On average, the typical hijacked device generates three times the impression volume of its legitimate counterpart.
“As fraudsters continue to aggressively target the connected TV space, we are committed to blocking emerging fraud schemes across all devices, formats and ad delivery platforms,” said Mark Zagorski, Chief Executive Officer at DoubleVerify. “Safeguarding the brands we serve is our first priority, since it directly impacts ad effectiveness. Fraud harms inventory quality, which in turn drives suboptimal business outcomes for global advertisers. Through the incredible efforts of our Fraud Lab, DV is providing CTV advertisers with much-needed transparency and protection, while helping to preserve the monetization opportunity for quality publishers.”
DV was able to neutralise Smokescreen for its clients using its Video Filtering Solution, but says the scam remains active and is generating up to 10 million fraudulent requests each day.
