How do you report suspicious ad activity?

You have screenshots, timestamps, and a click-to-session gap that screams fraud. Filing a vague complaint wastes everyone's time and rarely produces refunds. Ad platforms process hundreds of reports. Yours needs structure to stand out.

Reporting suspicious ad activity is the escalation step after monitoring and detection. It is not your first move. Pause or exclude harmful sources first, then report with evidence so the platform can investigate and so you have records if spend disputes continue. Here is how to report effectively.

When should you report suspicious ad activity?

Report when you have sustained evidence of invalid clicks, coordinated abuse, or policy violations that platform self-filtering did not stop. One odd afternoon is usually not enough. Multiple days of abnormal patterns with logs and analytics proof justify a formal report.

Also report when competitor interference crosses into malicious activity described in earlier modules, such as repeated brand attacks combined with empty clicks. Separate fraud reports from competitor strategy complaints when possible so each case stays clear.

What evidence to collect before you file

Strong reports share the same building blocks. Weak reports say "we think fraud happened." Strong reports show numbers, dates, and affected campaigns.

1. Timeline and scope

List start and end dates, affected campaigns, approximate invalid click counts, and estimated wasted spend. Narrow the window to the incident rather than sending entire account history.

2. Click versus session proof

Export charts or tables comparing ad clicks with tagged site sessions for the same dates. Highlight gaps that exceed your normal variance.

3. Source and behavior detail

Include traffic sources, geographies, devices, or repeat identifiers your detection tools flagged. Session recordings or heatmap summaries help when they show zero engagement across many visits.

4. Actions you already took

Note pauses, exclusions, or bid changes you applied. Platforms want to see you mitigated ongoing damage while they review.

Store exports in a dated folder so follow-up tickets do not restart from scratch. Clear file names with campaign labels and date ranges save time when support asks for additional proof a week later.

Detection routines are in detecting abnormal click behavior. Competitor-specific escalation overlaps with reporting malicious activity to ad platforms from the competitor module. Automated evidence gathering is easier when alerts and fraud tools feed one dashboard described in building an ad protection dashboard.

Frequently asked questions