Security News > 2020 > January > 93% of attempted mobile transactions in 2019 were fraudulent

93 percent of total mobile transactions in 20 countries were blocked as fraudulent in 2019 according to a report on the state of malware and mobile ad fraud released by Upstream.

In these five cases alone, 353 million suspicious mobile transactions were detected and blocked preventing $430 million in fraudulent charges.

"Mobile ad fraud is a criminal enterprise on a massive scale. Though it may seem that it is only targeted at advertisers, it greatly affects the whole mobile ecosystem. Most importantly it adversely impacts consumers; eating up their data allowance, bringing unwanted charges, messing with the performance of their device, and even targeting and collecting their personal data," said Dimitris Maniatis, CEO of Upstream.

"It is more than an invisible threat, it is an epidemic, calling for increased mobile security that urgently needs to rise up in the industry's priority list. Left unchecked, ad fraud will choke mobile advertising, erode trust in operators and lead to higher tariffs for users."

"Mobile ad fraud remains a hidden threat for most consumers. It usually goes undetected and is not high on people's agendas when choosing apps. However, aas the industry delays its response, consumers should take steps to stay safe from mobile ad fraud in 2020.".

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