click fraud
noun
: fraud committed by clicking through an advertisement on a website multiple times to spuriously increase the cost to the advertiser
Click fraud is where organisations or individuals take advantage of search engines' pay-per-click models—in which a company pays a fee if a consumer clicks through from the search engine to its website after entering search criteria—by continually clicking on an organisation's link.—
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Examples of click fraud in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Then Alexander played for the room a series of audio recordings of the three hackers explicitly discussing their new click fraud venture.
—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023
What is click fraud?
—Ralph Perrier, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
These techniques include click spamming, clickjacking, click fraud, click injection bad bots and more.
—Jacob Loveless, Forbes, 27 June 2022
One common scheme is click fraud, whereby an affiliate drives fake clicks to their partner’s site, via human click farms or botnets, with the aim of inflating their commission.
—Guy Tytunovich, Forbes, 24 June 2022
Drenik: How do brands increase ROI when ad blockers and click fraud are prevalent?
—Gary Drenik, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2021
The clicks are used for click fraud — e.g. to earn CPC ad revenue under false pretenses.
—Dr. Augustine Fou, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2021
Researchers have discovered two Google Play apps with more than 1.5 million downloads engaging in a new form of click fraud that drained batteries, slowed performance, and increased mobile data usage on infected phones.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 29 Aug. 2019
The extensions found by ICEBRG were used in a click fraud scheme, but company researchers said the add-ons just as easily could have been used to do more nefarious things.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 Jan. 2018
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Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023
What is click fraud?
—Ralph Perrier, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
These techniques include click spamming, clickjacking, click fraud, click injection bad bots and more.
—Jacob Loveless, Forbes, 27 June 2022
One common scheme is click fraud, whereby an affiliate drives fake clicks to their partner’s site, via human click farms or botnets, with the aim of inflating their commission.
—Guy Tytunovich, Forbes, 24 June 2022
Drenik: How do brands increase ROI when ad blockers and click fraud are prevalent?
—Gary Drenik, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2021
The clicks are used for click fraud — e.g. to earn CPC ad revenue under false pretenses.
—Dr. Augustine Fou, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2021
Researchers have discovered two Google Play apps with more than 1.5 million downloads engaging in a new form of click fraud that drained batteries, slowed performance, and increased mobile data usage on infected phones.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 29 Aug. 2019
The extensions found by ICEBRG were used in a click fraud scheme, but company researchers said the add-ons just as easily could have been used to do more nefarious things.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 Jan. 2018
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'click fraud.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
2001, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near click fraud
Cite this Entry
“Click fraud.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/click%20fraud. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
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