Fraud risk is prevalent in almost every industry, for example, airlines, retail, financial services, and so on. The risk is especially high in online advertising. For companies investing in digital marketing, it is important to contain costs from fraudulent clicks on ads. Online advertising can become cost-prohibitive if fraudulent behavior is rampant across online ad channels. In this chapter, we will look at ad-click data for mobile apps and predict which clicks will likely yield app downloads. The outcome of this prediction exercise will allow mobile app developers to efficiently allocate online marketing dollars.
Ad-click behavior is very dynamic. This behavior changes across time, location, and ad channels. A fraudster can develop software to automate clicking on mobile app ads and conceal the identity...