Was Methbot’s Financial Impact Grossly Exaggerated?
In late December, the digital security firm White Ops released a bombshell report outlining a sophisticated video ad fraud scheme that it estimated was siphoning $3 million to $5 million from marketers each day. Inspired by the word “meth” in the fraudsters’ code, White Ops called the scam “Methbot.”
The complexity and apparent scope, eclipsing prior big frauds that were believed to run under $1 million a day, helped fuel an unprecedented amount of media coverage in outlets including CNN, The New York Times and CBS (not to mention Ad Age).
But Methbot’s financial impact may have been grossly exaggerated.
