Ad fraud isn’t a bug in the system. It is the system.
In this episode of The Skeptical Marketer, host Jake Surrey sits down with Nasser Ouijdane, CEO of Tapper AI, to dig into the hidden mechanics of fraudulent traffic, botnets, and the black-box incentives that make digital advertising feel more Wild West than regulated marketplace. With experience as an entrepreneur and founder in the SaaS space, Nasser stumbled into ad fraud by accident—and uncovered just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Today, he’s building technology to fight back, but he’s also brutally honest about the scale of the challenge.
Key takeaways & lessons:
- The real cost of fake clicks: Nasser explains how invalid traffic inflates CPAs and CAC, drains budgets, and devalues legitimate publisher inventory—while fraudsters pocket billions.
- Winners, losers, and enablers: Advertisers and users lose, fraudsters win, and ad tech intermediaries quietly profit. Fraud thrives because volume looks like success.
- Programmatic’s dirty secret: Multiple resales of low-quality inventory, invisible ad placements, and a supply chain where “fraud is a feature, not a bug.”
- Why regulation fails: Even after a decade of warnings, industry self-policing hasn’t worked. Nasser draws parallels with finance—where misrepresenting money has consequences—and argues for transparency mandates.
- What marketers can do now: Don’t assume the platforms have your back. Audit your traffic quality, look for anomalies, prevent fraud proactively, and hold vendors accountable. Otherwise, you’re just optimizing for noise.
- The bigger picture: If left unchecked, ad fraud will slowly bleed confidence out of digital marketing, shifting spend to closed ecosystems, squeezing out smaller players, and ultimately making advertising less effective for everyone but criminals.
Nasser Ouijdane’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nassero/
Tapper AI Website: https://tapper.ai
This episode is brought to you by clearmotive marketing, in partnership with Ptak & Co. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure you subscribe to
The Skeptical Marketer and leave us a five-star review on your platform of choice. It really helps the show!
