Fraud
Viewability of Directly Placed Display Ads Improves in H1
source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/direct/viewability-of-directly-placed-display-ads-improves-in-h1-36622/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink
61% of directly placed ads stayed in-view for at least 1 second during the fist half (H1) of 2013, up from 56% in the second half of 2012 and 49.9% in H1 2012, according to [pdf] a new study from Integral Ad Science. Viewability for directly placed ads was better than for networks (43%, slightly up from 42.2%), exchanges (40%, up from 37.6%), and hybrids (40%, down from 41.1%).
Longer engagement with viewers was much harder to come by: just 31% of directly placed ads remained in-view for 15 seconds, although that was a significant rise from 22.7% in the previous 6-month period.
Details from Integral’s “Semiannual Review” indicate that viewability continues to be better for vertically oriented (160×600 – Skyscraper) ads, with an average of 67% in-view for at least 1 second.
Suspicious Activity Lowest for Directly-Placed Ads
Directly placed ads not only had the highest engagement, they also were deemed to be lowest risk. While more than 1 in 5 impressions overall were suspicious of being fraudulent activity, only 2% of those placed directly exhibited suspicious activity. By contrast, exchanges were far riskier, with 20% of impressions deemed questionable (though that was down from upwards of 30% in H2 2012).
While the Integral study suggest some improvements in fraudulent activity, a recent report from Solve Media indicated that levels of suspicious activity continue to rise. Solve Media also pointed to rising fraud within the video ad space: in its study, Integral reveals that 3% of impressions on pre-roll ads were suspicious, with suspicious activity more concentrated on in-banner video ads. In fact, 40% of impressions through exchanges on in-banner video a! ds were e! stimated to be suspicious, according to the report.
Other Findings:
- Food sites boasted the highest level of engagement, with an average in-view time of more than 2.1 seconds. Education sites fared worst on this level, with an average in-view time of about 1 second.
- Ads on shopping sites were again deemed the least risky in terms of suspicious activity, while family and health sites had the highest rates of suspicious activity.
- The overall proportion of high-risk inventory (impressions that represent a low degree of brand safety) stood at roughly 6% in Q2, and was relatively consistent across channels.
- Risk content continues to be mostly the realm of illegal downloads, drugs, offensive language and alcohol. Risky adult and hate speech inventory declined between Q1 and Q2.
- About 13% of ads collided with another ad from the same campaign during H1, down from more than 20% in H2 2012.
- Canada received the largest amount of the US’ non-geo-targeted content, at 16.4% in Q1 2013 and 15.8% in Q2. Both were improvements from 34.5% in Q4 2012.
One-Quarter of Web Traffic Lands on Pages With 4 or More Display Ads
source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/direct/one-quarter-of-web-traffic-lands-on-pages-with-4-or-more-display-ads-36655/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink
More than 8 in 10 American adults believe that online ads are detrimental to their experience always (16%) or some of the time (66%) some of the time, according to a recent survey from Adblade. That echoes prior research from Adobe and Edelman Berland, in which consumers were most likely to describe online ads as “annoying” and “distracting.” Could clutter be a problem? New data from Integral Ad Science [pdf] indicates that 24% of impressions during the first half (H1) of the year landed on pages with more than 3 display ads.
Specifically, 76% of impressions land on pages containing 1-3 display ads, 16.4% on pages with 4-5 ads, 3.5% on pages with 6-7 ads, and 3.1% on pages with more than 10 ads. (The exact numbers for pages with 8-9 ads weren’t included as they were fractional.)
What’s interesting about those findings (beyond the data itself) is that traffic skewed slightly towards pages with a higher density of ads. That’s because 80.8% of the pages surveyed contained 1-3 display ads – but only 76% of impressions went to those pages.
Directly placed ads (which have the highest viewability and lowest incidence of fraud) also won out in terms of clutter. 86% of directly placed ads were on pages with 1-3 ads, while networks, exchanges, and hybrids all ranged between 46.4% and 48.7% of ads placed on pages with that few ads.
Returning to the Adblade surve! y, a majo! rity of respondents indicated that the most obtrusive banner position is the middle of the page (66%), with fewer pointing to the top of the page (19%), right side of the page (10%) and end of the article (4%). 31% prefer websites to have sponsored third-party articles (advertorials) with no banner ads, compared to 24% who don’t. The remaining 45% don’t care.
drag2share: Square Is Being Abused By New York Pedicabs Who Scam Tourists With $600 Rides
source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/SbOL9umN4Iw/square-abuse-by-pedicab-drivers-2013-7
Pedicab drivers in New York City are using mobile payments service Square to scam passengers, The New York Post reports.
They are reportedly adding on extra fees through the app, but not telling customers. Passengers only discover they’ve been ripped off once they look at their account statement much later.
Square’s credit card readers invite fraud because it lets people charge anything they want, NYC Pedicab Owners Association President Laramie Flick told The Post.
Just last month, a driver charged a couple of tourists $720 for a 20-minute ride from midtown to Greenwich Village using Square.
Mitt Romney Twitter Fraud – 117k Followers On A Weekend Day
Digital Forensic Analysis by Augustine Fou
The first graph shows search interest in “mitt romney” over the period of June 25 – July 24, 2012. There is no discernible lift in interest around July 21, according to Google Insights for Search
The second chart below was generated by Twitter Counter and shows a dramatic increase of nearly 117,000 followers in 1 day, when the average number of adds per day over the same period was usually a steady 7,800 per day.
Something is not kosher. The spike happened on a Saturday, July 21. Saturdays and Sundays are usually the worst days to tweet according to a study by FastCompany.
Many of the followers listed on Romney’s twitter page have ZERO tweets, ZERO followers, etc. (see screen shot)
See at the bottom an example of the proliferation of “service” which help users buy thousands of followers at a time.
Groupon Needs To Be VERY Careful, Because The Sharks Are Circling (GRPN)
Groupon is bleeding in the water, and the sharks are circling.
On Friday, we learned that Groupon under reported the number of returns it had in Q4, and that the company had to revise its earnings.
Then Groupon’s auditor filed a “statement of material weakness,” basically telling the SEC it would not vouch for the company’s numbers.
Yesterday, the WSJ reported that the SEC is investigating the company.
That’s not all the company has to worry about.
Institutional investors put big money into Groupon’s IPO.
Since that day’s highs, the stock is down more that 50%. It tanked 16% yesterday alone.
If those institutions can blame somebody else for those losses and recoup any of their own investor’s money, they will.
That means if those investors catch even slight whiffs of fraud out of Groupon – and trust me, they are sniffing – the lawsuits and subpoenas will come in rapid succession.
Ever seen a shark frenzy?
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See Also:
- Groupon’s Andrew Mason: We Were ‘Toughened Up’ By Quiet Period
- Groupon Eyes Foursquare Territory And Acquires Location Database Startup, Hyperpublic
- San Francisco Puts Hackers To Work Fixing The Horribly Broken Taxi System
The banking industry often employs two-step security measures—similar to Google Authenticator—as an added layer of protection against password theft and fraud. Unfortunately, those systems have just been rendered moot by a highly-advanced hack.
The attack, know as the Man in the Browser method, works like this. Malicious code is first introduced onto the victim’s computer where it resides in the web browser. It will lay dormant until the victim visits a specific website—in this case, his bank’s secure website. Once the user attempts to log in, the malware activates and runs between the victim and the actual website. Often the malware will request that the victim enter his password or other security pass into an unauthorized field, in order to “train a new security system.” Once that happens, the attacker has full access to the account.
Luckily, the method is only a single-shot attack. That is, the attacker is only able to infiltrate the site once with the user-supplied pass code. But, once in, the attacker can hide records of money transfers, spoof balances and change payment details. “The man in the browser attack is a very focused, very specific, advanced threat, specifically focused against banking,” Daniel Brett, of malware testing lab S21sec, told the BBC.
Since this attack has shown that the two-factor system is no longer a viable defense, the banking industry may have to adopt more advanced fraud-detection methods similar to what secure credit cards. When compared to having your account silently drained, standing in line for the teller suddenly doesn’t seem like that much of a hassle. [BBC News via Technology Review]
Image: jamdesign / Shutterstock
EMV in, magnetic strips out
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/31/mastercard-reveals-roadmap-for-our-electronic-payment-future-em/
It’s been over fifteen years since MasterCard, Visa and Europay developed EMV technology to make your credit cards more secure, but it has yet to really catch on here in the US. However, MasterCard has created a master plan to help usher in the EMV era and sound the death knell for the magnetic strip. Why? The EMV infrastructure is far more fraud-resistant because each transaction is authenticated dynamically using cryptographic algorithms and a user-specific PIN. That’s why MasterCard plans to help build out the EMV POS infrastructure by April of next year and have its secure e-payment system functioning at ATMs, online and with its myriad mobile payment options as well. For now, the nuts and bolts of how the credit card firm plans to bring its plan to fruition are few, but more details will be forthcoming, and there’s a bit more info at the source and PR below.
! MasterCard reveals roadmap for our electronic payment future: EMV in, magnetic strips out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Encrypting Your Hard Drive No Longer Works Against Federal Prosecution [Law]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5878709/encrypting-your-hard-drive-no-longer-works-against-federal-prosecution
Sometimes common “street smarts” fail you. Like when you ask the guy who’s selling you drugs if he’s a cop. Or when you encrypt your hard drive and refuse to unlock it for prosecutors while citing the self-incriminating clause of the Fifth Amendment.
A federal court judge has just ruled that being forced to decrypt one’s hard drive during prosecution does not violate the defendants’s Fifth Amendment rights. The ruling stems from a case against Ramona Fricosu, who is charged with mortgage fraud. She has refused to decrypt the contents of her hard drive arguing that doing so would require her to essentially testify against herself.
Nuh-uh, said judge Robert Blackburn, citing an earlier ruling against one Sebastien Boucher. In that case, the courts decided that, while Boucher’s encryption password was certainly protected, the information on his drive could be considered evidence in the case and was therefore not subject to the same liberties.
“I find and conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,” Blackburn wrote in his opinion today. He also cited the All Writs Act, a 1789 statute, could be invoked as well to force Fricosu’s compliance.
Friscosu has until February 21 to comply or face contempt of court charges. Geez, it’s getting to the point that your secrets are better left on microfilm in pumpkin patches rather than on your hard drive. [CNet via The Verge]
Image – Tatiana Popova / Shutterstock
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Digital Consigliere
Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
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Obama signs Safe Web Act into law, extends FTC power to combat online scam artists
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/04/obama-signs-safe-web-act-online-scammer/
See that guy? The one in the bubble? He’s probably up to no good. Thanks to President Obama, however, he’s going to have a much harder time duping innocent young ladies like the one also shown here. Per The Hill, the POTUS has just signed into law the Safe Web Act, which extends the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to “clamp down on Internet fraud and online scammers based abroad.” In simpler terms, it enables the entity to share data about “cross-border online fraud with foreign law enforcement authorities” through September of 2020. According to an unnamed official within the FTC, the existing edition of this act has allowed it to conduct over 100 investigations into cross-border fraud and scam, but it’s unclear how much crime was stopped and how many people were needlessly annoyed. We kid, we kid.
Filed under: Internet
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Via: The Next Web
Source: The Hill
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