Ad fraud
Ad fraud is an attempt to deceive advertising platforms into thinking that fake activity on the network is real user behavior for the purpose of financial gain. Malicious actors typically use bots in order to implement ad fraud, although there are a variety of other methods used to get advertisers and ad networks to pay them for fake activity including some that involve real humans.
In short, ad fraud refers to any attempt to disrupt the proper delivery of ads to real users and the intended audience.
With a predicted $44 billion lost to ad fraud in 2022, online advertising fraud remains a major issue for ad networks and advertisers alike.