💥DoubleVerify Unveils FM Scam, the New Threat in Audio Ad Fraud

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The Fraud Lab at DoubleVerify ("DV"), a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data, and analytics, discovered “FM Scam,” the latest audio fraud scheme, and mitigated it using a proprietary combination of AI-powered technology and human review. FM Scam, the second major global audio spending scheme, emerged shortly after DV Fraud Lab protected advertisers from BeatSting, the first major audio traffic invalid traffic (IVT) scheme. Both schemes cost unprotected advertisers over $1 million per month at their peak. FM Scammers use dedicated servers to fake audio traffic. They also spoof many audio-playing devices. This lets fraudsters mix invalid traffic with legitimate traffic to avoid detection. The scammers spoofed over 500,000 devices, including phones, tablets, connected TV (CTV) devices, audio players, smartwatches, and, for the first time, smart speakers, according to DV.

Fraudsters auction their invalid traffic through supply-side platforms (SSPs), exchanges and ad networks. DV’s impact analysis indicates that FM Scam generates up to 100 million ad requests monthly. In addition to defrauding advertisers, the fraudsters also are impacting the yield of quality audio sellers by siphoning money away from legitimate audio channels.

“Audio is rapidly becoming a lucrative target for fraudsters,” said Jack Smith, Chief Innovation Officer at DoubleVerify. “The range of players and devices used to stream audio content sets this environment apart from other media types. Fraudsters tend to focus on emerging media, like audio, that attracts advertising investments but lacks comprehensive measurement standards.”

FM Scam further blends in with legitimate traffic by mimicking the behavior of a typical continuous ad session. Unlike BeatSting, which switches between devices after generating a certain number of impressions, FM Scam creates longer, uninterrupted sessions. This randomises the traffic pattern to appear more human-like, as opposed to delivering a consistent, fixed amount of impressions across devices.

When FM Scam emerged, the Fraud Lab quickly tied IP addresses used by the attack to a CTV scheme first detected in 2019. Some IPs were also associated with various malicious activities, including the spread of malware. The DV Fraud Lab immediately mitigated FM Scam’s attacks and has been continuously shutting down new variants of this scheme leveraging a proprietary combination of AI-powered technology and human review.

DV’s Fraud Lab — powered by a dedicated team of data scientists, mathematicians and analysts — performs ongoing detection and analysis of new types of digital ad fraud to uncover the latest schemes as they occur. Through continuous analysis, scenario management and research, the Fraud Lab pinpoints the sites, apps and devices responsible for fraudulent activity and updates protection for DV clients in real time.

The full report is available for download here.

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