Logo Trackier

All the features you need in
a complete Ad Tech solutions provider

Get the latest updates and news from Trackier

Get new posts on email

Home » Blog » Ad- Fraud » Fighting against Affiliate Cookie Stuffing in Iframe

Fighting against Affiliate Cookie Stuffing in Iframe

Written by Mukul Kaushik

Ad Networks offer affiliate programs that allow Affiliates to generate income. These affiliates are given an Affiliate ID that stores a cookie in a user’s browser for a specified period of time. If the user makes a sale/conversion before the cookie expires, the affiliate receives a commission for that sale/conversion.

Optimize CPI For Positive ROI
What makes this approach unique is that it does not technically distribute any malicious content. If a user engaged with the page containing the iFrame on the compromised website, they simply transferred a network’s affiliate cookie to the user’s browser.

iFrame: It is used to add HTML code inside another HTML code. Generally, this technology is used to place ads on websites. Where advertisers are given a section on the website to place their creative codes. 

Here is an example of a publisher using Iframe pixel to stuff cookies on the user browser and generating fraud conversions.

<html>
<head>
 <meta name=”referrer” content=”no-referrer” />
 <style>
 html,

    body,

    * {

      margin: 0;

      padding: 0;

    }

  </style>

</head>

<body>

  <a href=”” target=”_blank” style=”text-decoration: none;”>

    <img src=”” />

  </a>
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”https://trk.netowrk.com/click?pid=0000&offer_id=00000&sub1=&sub2=26&sub3=xyz&sub4=gaid&sub5=app-id&sub6=radom_id” />
</body>


When users visit a web page with a hidden iFrame like this, their browser loads all the content whether the user can see it or not. This includes affiliate cookies, which are then stored in the browser.

Some networks will inject up to 20 different hidden affiliate iFrames on a single page to maximize the opportunities. These invisible iFrames are known to slow page load times and can lead to negative user experience, but are otherwise harmless to users.

If the user makes a conversion before the injected iFrame cookie expires, network will receive a commission for the purchase.

By compromising more websites and distributing their injected Affiliate iFrames exposure is maximized as is the number of commissions generated for these black hat marketers clearly showing that unprotected websites are a resource valuable for bad actors.

To mitigate the risk of serving unwanted affiliate cookies or reducing site performance, website owners can closely monitor changes to their website files by using an integrity monitoring service. This service will make it easy to spot any suspicious or compromised activity.


What We Are Doing To Stop This Kind Of Fraud?

In Trackier we have created a shield to block any click coming from publisher tracking URL which seems to be the centre for image/ Iframe pixel for cookie stuffing.
Our dedicated server keeps a watch 24*7 for this kind of traffic and keep blocking it, which makes you safe from paying fraud conversion to your affiliate and managing disrupted CR with advertisers.

The above image is a sample as to what cookie stuffing fraud looks like. With cookie stuffing, you’re committing a crime against another affiliate or the advertisers who is paying commissions on sales that would have happened anyway.






More Blogs From Us

  • How to Prevent iGaming Affiliate Marketing Fraud

    It’s not easy to be an iGaming operator these days as the market is highly competitive and one has to keep in mind the constant pressure they face due to regulations put in place by different nations for gambling. But […]

    Read More
  • How is click injection affecting your app and why you should be worried about it?

    With the growth of the mobile app ecosystem, the frauds committed to boosting install numbers are becoming more sophisticated by the day. Mobile app marketers need to be aware of one such growing methodology, the click injection, to protect their […]

    Read More
  • Beating the Fraudsters- Trackier Anti Fraud Tool

    Online advertising is a multi-billion dollar market. Global digital advertising spending is forecast to reach $ 225 billion, or 44% of total advertising spend. The size of this market is encouraging criminals and hackers to create technologies and techniques to […]

    Read More
  • How to Generate more revenue from CPI marketing?

    App marketing has been consistently synonymous with application installs. The number of downloads achieved to demonstrate the success of the application. However, according to a general trend the majority users tend to uninstall the application after getting it from the […]

    Read More
Bottom Image

Tap every user attribution in real-time with Trackier