Anura PR Team
TL;DR
- Click injection is a type of mobile click fraud where fraudsters fake clicks to steal credit for installs or conversions.
- It exploits app broadcasts and latency to hijack attribution at the last second.
- This tactic leads to wasted ad spend, distorted performance metrics, and stolen commissions.
- It often targets affiliate campaigns, CPI/CPA ad networks, and mobile attribution platforms.
How Does Click Injection Fraud Work?
Click injection is a sophisticated mobile fraud technique where a malicious app listens for install broadcasts on Android devices. When it detects that a new app is being downloaded, it fires off a fake click just milliseconds before the installation completes. This tricks attribution platforms into believing the fraudster was responsible for the conversion—even though they contributed nothing to it.
Because the fraudster's click is the most recent, they get credit for the install and pocket the affiliate payout. It's a form of attribution hijacking, and it's difficult to detect using traditional click fraud filters.
Click injection typically targets:
- Cost-per-install (CPI) campaigns
- Mobile affiliate networks
- Performance marketing programs with weak fraud detection
What Are the Risks of Click Injection?
Click injection drains your ad budget and pollutes your performance data. You're paying for installs that were going to happen anyway—except now a fraudster is intercepting them.
This creates a false sense of campaign success, distorts ROI, and undermines legitimate partners. It can also trigger chargebacks, partner distrust, and reputation damage, especially if fraud isn't caught in time.
Worse, click injection fraud often coexists with other mobile threats like SDK spoofing and device farms, making it part of a much broader issue in mobile ad fraud.
How Can You Detect and Prevent Click Injection?
Click injection is difficult to catch—fraudsters use real devices and carefully timed clicks that appear legitimate to most filters. Traditional solutions often rely too heavily on timestamps or basic fingerprinting, letting sophisticated attacks slip through.
That’s where Anura comes in.
Our platform analyzes hundreds of technical signals in real time, using advanced rulesets and deterministic data to detect even the most subtle signs of fraud. We go far beyond simple timing logic or IP matching to ensure that fake clicks are blocked before they do damage.
Why Mobile Campaigns Are Especially Vulnerable
Mobile environments offer more attack surfaces for click injection. Malicious apps can operate quietly in the background, and many app stores don’t catch these bad actors before damage is done. This creates a perfect storm for click fraud:
- High volume of installs
- Delayed attribution
- Inconsistent fraud protection
As mobile ad spend continues to rise, so does the incentive for fraudsters to exploit gaps like this. Anura helps close that gap—for good.
