Fraudsters Could Be Infiltrating Your Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

Many consumer-facing businesses are diversifying their sales channels to keep up with the market demands for digitalization. Retail companies, in particular, must look beyond brick-and-mortar stores by expanding into multiple channels.

Affiliate marketing is becoming a growing part of this digital diversification.

The strategy enables brands to partner with social influencers to reach large audiences with minimal resources and generate fast results. However, affiliate marketing strategies are a target for fraudulent activity.

Although businesses think they are paying the correct affiliate partners, there is huge risk that they’re pumping money into misattributed sources.

It’s imperative that, in this current climate of digital growth, they nurture their genuine affiliates by tackling ad fraud.

‍

Understanding the threat

Affiliate marketing fraud can occur when websites or individuals, who are paid a commission for the promotion of a product or service, use fraudulent tactics to generate revenue for personal gain. In most cases, affiliates are aware of fraudulent activity, yet turn a blind eye or even perpetuate fraud, as they’re not well-equipped to overcome it.

The ecommerce sector is one of the most vulnerable targets for affiliate fraud. With retail ecommerce sales forecasted to reach around $8.1 trillion by 2026, targeting mobile and online users to increase sales is highly valuable for businesses. Many retail companies partner with a range of social media influencers that offer affiliate links.

Unfortunately, the growth opportunity is not only attractive to the industry itself, but also to bad actors who set out to steal millions every year.

‍