Security News > 2022 > December > Google Ad fraud campaign used adult content to make millions
A massive advertising fraud campaign using Google Ads and 'popunders' on adult sites is estimated to have generated millions of ad impressions on stolen articles, making the fraudsters an estimated $275k per month.
The campaign was discovered by Malwarebytes, who reported it to Google and took it down for violating policies forbidding Google Ads on adult sites.
Typically, 'popunders' are used by online dating services, adult webcams, and other adult content portals.
To generate ad revenue from these popunders, the actors also embed a Google Ad at the bottom of the page, violating Google's advertising policies, as shown below.
Tube, a legitimate adult content site, which it uses to import adult content.
"A click anywhere on the page triggers a real click on a Google ad instead.".