Today, affiliate marketing is an essential growth driver. However, a shadow sometimes hangs over this lever: fraud. Between bots, brand hijacking and misuse of promo codes, advertisers can legitimately wonder about the purity of their traffic.
The good news? Fraud is not inevitable. Effinity has made security a top priority. Here’s how an approach that combines cutting-edge technology, financial control and transparency transforms affiliation into a secure channel.
Understanding the challenges of fraud in performance marketing
Affiliate fraud is defined as any deceptive activity aimed at generating undue commissions. Countering these practices is essential to protect your ROI and ensure that every euro invested delivers real added value.
7 technological pillars to guarantee secure membership
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Distinguishing human from robot: the surgical precision of the click
The first line of defense is to ensure that behind every click is a real Internet user. To do this, every interaction (or “hit”) sent to our servers is screened. Our system systematically eliminates :
- Crawlers and indexing robots that simulate visits.
- Connections via proxies or VPNs seeking to mask an identity.
- Abnormal origins, such as data centers or high-risk geographical areas.
Most reassuring of all: a click is only validated if it passes all these filters. To anticipate tomorrow’s threats, we are also developing Artificial Intelligence capable of analyzing browsing behavior in a predictive way.
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Double-checking: when “click” meets “visit
It’s not enough to measure what leaves a banner ( ad-centric approach), you need to check what actually arrives on your site ( site-centric approach). This is where our visit sensors come in.
This proprietary technology provides a vital dual reading function:
- Analysis of the clicks/visits ratio: if an affiliate generates a massive volume of clicks without actually loading a page, the anomaly is immediately isolated.
- Advanced technical data: by analyzing details such as the size of the browser window, we unmask cookie dropping.
The special case of browser extensions
Browser extensions (especially for promo codes) can be a source of concern and, for some, can be likened to cookie dropping. Indeed, while an extension can overwrite the cookies of your other affiliates (influencers, blogs), it doesn’t create value: it steals attribution.
There are two ways to prevent this:
- Protect attribution by using “soft cookie” logic, so that the extension only earns commission if no other affiliate is already present. This prohibits the overwriting of existing cookies (anti-overwrite). The extension should only be used as a last resort.
- Guarantee data integrity by using a unique promo code. If the customer uses an influencer or CRM code, the extension must not touch anything.
Focus on a case study
Eliminating Cookie Dropping at a leading auto parts retailer
The challenge: a car parts distributor was experiencing high commission volumes that seemed to be uncorrelated with actual traffic. The objective was to detect and stop cookie dropping, a practice that consists of forcibly depositing a cookie (via an invisible window, for example) in order to earn a commission without ever having influenced the purchase.
The Effinity answer:
- Click Quality Analysis: deployment of an analytical script on the merchant site to compare the Click/Visit ratio in real time.
- Technical vigilance: screen size analysis to identify 1×1 pixel windows, typical signatures of invisible fraud.
- Data reconciliation: Effinity logs are cross-referenced with the advertiser’s internal analytics tools for a 360° view.
The result: 9 fraudulent partners were identified and banned. Thanks to this clean-up action, the advertiser immediately saved €8,000 in undue commissions, which were subsequently reinvested in partners generating real value.
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Ad Hijacking: protect your brand with BluePear
Ad Hijacking is when a publisher outbids you on your own keywords to steal your natural traffic. To counter this, Effinity works with BluePear, the world’s leading specialist in ad hijacking detection.
Thanks to this real-time monitoring, our teams immediately neutralize any attempt at usurpation, thus preserving your budget and your ROI.
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Securing transactions: monitoring payments and cashback
The cashback industry can be susceptible to transactional fraud. A fraudster could use suspicious or stolen payment methods to generate commissions, before the transaction is cancelled.
To protect advertisers, we closely monitor buying behavior:
- Analysis of payment methods: detection of repetitive or inconsistent patterns.
- Delayed validation: we ensure the solidity of the transaction before the final validation of the commission.
This rigor ensures that you only pay for real, definitive and legitimate sales.
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Controlling your offers: rigorous management of promo codes
The promotional code is a powerful lever, but it must be controlled to avoid margin leakage. Promotional code fraud (use of codes reserved for other channels, out-of-date or invented codes) can damage your strategy.
Effinity implements strict management :
- Selective allocation: only authorized publishers can distribute specific codes.
- Dedicated tracking: we are able to reallocate or cancel a commission if an “excluded” code has been used by an unauthorized third party.
In this way, you retain full control over your sales policy. Effinity is also a signatory of the Charte des bons de réduction, which guarantees the ethical use of promotional codes.
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The power of transparency: certified networks
Security is also based on trust. We encourage our affiliate networks to document their traffic sources. Those who agree to share their referrers (the exact pages from which clicks originate) receive a Publisher Label on our platform.
For the advertiser, it’s a guarantee of sourced, auditable, high-quality traffic.
Focus on a case study
Transparency and Brand Safety for an airline
The challenge: before joining Effinity, this airline was allocating 35% of its affiliation budget to opaque sub-networks. Without visibility on the final publisher sites, the brand was exposing itself to major risks for its image (non-quality sites, inappropriate distribution contexts).
Effinity’s response: from the moment the program was launched, our experts imposed a policy of total transparency:
- Label filtering: only sub-networks accepting Effinity labeling (full transparency on traffic sources and referrers) have been maintained.
- Selective audit: systematic exclusion of all sites whose typology was not in line with the company’s standards.
The result: the weight of networks in the affiliation mix was reduced from 35% to 10%. Far from being a loss, this refocusing enabled the company to concentrate its investment on highly qualified traffic that was perfectly aligned with its brand image. As a result, the company regained complete control over its digital communications.
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Behavioral analysis: from click to sale
Finally, we analyze conversion time. A sale made just a few seconds after a click on a content site is often suspect. This behavioral tracking, combined with our other tools, enables us to isolate suspicious patterns and protect your investments.
Human expertise and the role of trusted third party: the key to success
Technology may be an indispensable ally, but it can never replace the eye of the expert. We are convinced that human control is the cornerstone of an effective security system. Our experts have intimate knowledge of the publisher network and the different types of partners (content sites, influencers, good deals, etc.). This expertise makes it possible to detect weak signals that a machine could ignore.
As a trusted third party, Effinity occupies a central position in the ecosystem, in constant contact with affiliates, advertisers and attribution tools. Our top priority is to guarantee clean, high-quality traffic. That’s why we mobilize considerable technological and human resources. Our reputation, and the longevity of your partnerships, depend on it. We act as a benevolent but rigorous filter to clean up exchanges and reward virtuous players.
Serenity for performance
The fight against fraud is not an obstacle to affiliation; on the contrary, it’s the driving force behind its reliability. By investing in solutions like Effinity’s, you’re not just blocking fraudsters: you’re optimizing your budget.
Every euro saved on fraud is a euro reinvested in your best partners. With the right tools and constant human vigilance, affiliation remains one of the healthiest and most effective levers in your digital strategy.
