Click fraud rate soared in fourth quarter

According to a new report from Anchor Intelligence, click fraud rate surged during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Thus, it was found the average attempted click fraud rate increased from 18.6% in the third quarter of 2009, to 25.7% in the fourth quarter.

This rapid increase in the attempted click fraud rate in Q4 was caused by growing activity of click fraudsters looking to take advantage of the increase in holiday ad spend online.

The spread of botnets, which are used for automating traffic and coordinating click fraud activity, spiked late in the quarter.

Highlights from the report also include:

• In Q4 2009, the attempted click fraud rate peaked at 25.7%.
• The 5 countries with the highest attempted click fraud rates in 2009 were Vietnam, U.S., Egypt, Canada, and Australia. In particular, the US and Canada accounted for the vast majority of traffic volume, making these two countries the largest sources of attempted click fraud by volume.
• Anchor predicts that click fraud attempts will increase in 2010 as cybercriminals increasingly exploit the growth and adoption of social networks such as Facebook and tools such as Twitter.