Coming to a TV near you: Ad fraud that costs marketers millions

Connected TVs are prime marketing real estate because the big screen captures the attention of viewers more effectively than a smartphone with a smaller screen. — Technology vector created by vectorjuice - www.freepik.com

As billions of consumers binge-watched TV shows during the pandemic, an insidious form of fraud was playing out right under their noses.

Marketers spend millions of dollars to reach audiences glued to Internet-connected TVs, but some of that money is ending up in the pockets of scam artists, who’ve devised a complex and hard-to-detect shell game that mixes up where ads appear and who makes money from their placement. This digital switcheroo diverts ads meant for big, high-definition television screens to less expensive platforms, such as smartphones, with thieves pocketing the price difference.