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Ad fraud detection firm Forensiq has released a new report which claims that nearly 15 percent of apps are loading invisible ads. In an analysis of 16 billion ad views, the company found that 13 percent of ads on Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices were never seen. The mobile development firms behind the apps are charging advertisers for these advertisements, and they are running down users’ battery life and using up to 2 GB of mobile data per day.
“We wanted to show the public how blatant and obvious and hurtful all this fraud is — not just to advertisers who pay for ads that no one sees but also people using these apps on these tiny devices that are bandwidth-limited and power-limited,” Mike Andrews, Forensiq’s chief scientist, said.
Google has reportedly begun suspending fraudulent apps identified in the report.
