Cookie stuffing is an insidious and lucrative form of affiliate marketing fraud. Affiliate programs offer passive income sources for many publishers. Your company’s marketing team tends to rely on affiliate marketing to drive organic traffic and boost sales.
In affiliate marketing fraud, cookie stuffing is a method used by threat actors. It is a method to trick websites into thinking that they have sent traffic. The practice is also known as cookie-dropping. Malicious cookies used by nefarious affiliates contain false information that affects your brand’s customer journey.
Affiliate fraud with cookie stuffing is a procedure where threat actors deceive your affiliate channels to get commissions. Cookie stuffing is contributing to affiliate fraud, and the situation is more alarming nowadays.
To stop cookie stuffing, companies are implementing affiliate tracking solutions. Cookie stuffing leads to the loss of the advertising budget. The legitimate affiliates of your company feel left out during cookie stuffing.
Cookie stuffing occurs when threat actors place cookies in an illegal manner. Affiliate fraud created due to cookie stuffing has severe repercussions for your business. It erodes the trust between your marketing team and the legitimate affiliates of your company.
Cookie stuffing is responsible for hijacking your customers’ buying journey. Here are some essential facets to learn about cookie stuffing and its role in affiliate traps.
What should you know about Cookie Stuffing and Affiliate Marketing?
Your company’s marketing team and its affiliates make money by referring visitors to your main website. With affiliate cookie stuffing, the threat actor’s objective is to make the website believe that a user has completed an action.
The threat actors stuff numerous cookies into your user's browser without notifying them. The user might visit your website based on the affiliate links and purchase from you. When this happens, the nefarious affiliate will receive a commission.
Cookie stuffing demoralizes the legitimate affiliates of your company as you end up paying commissions to threat actors. Cookie stuffing occurs via browser injection that affects your customer’s user experience.
Cookies refer to code that secures the data of your users online. The main aim of these cookies is to map the activities of users. They also remember the previous actions of users. During cookie stuffing, when an individual buys anything from the published affiliate links, the threat actors receive the commission. The threat actors create cookie stuffing that creates affiliate fraud.
Objectives of Cookie Stuffing
The main objective of cookie stuffing is to trick websites into thinking that threat actors have sent them traffic. This sector of marketing is rife with affiliate fraud. Specific industries rely more on affiliates than other marketing platforms.
With cookie stuffing, the malicious affiliates goal is to make the website believe that the clicks are from the user. Threat actors can also drop cookies onto your customer’s web browser without their knowledge. It can result in a severe loss of trust.
Undesirable Consequences of Cookie Stuffing
Most companies nowadays are implementing affiliate tracking platforms to monitor cookie stuffing. Cookie stuffing has severe consequences for your brand’s reputation and identity in the market. Here are some of the undesirable consequences of cookie stuffing you should know.
- Advertisers end up paying the threat actor in place of the legitimate affiliates
- The professional and reputed advertisers will leave your affiliate campaign midway
- Your company's marketing team will get falser information and insights that result in inaccurate planning
- During cookie stuffing, the malicious affiliates will steal your users’ data
Strategies used by Threat Actors to Stuff Cookies
Cookie stuffing affects your company's clicks and conversions on eCommerce websites. With cookie stuffing, there is always the risk of losing loyal customers. Here are some of the most common strategies used by threat actors to drop cookies.
Using iFrame
The primary objective of iFrame is to add HTML code inside another HTML code. This technology is used to place ads on websites. Malicious affiliates inject third-party code into iFrame that creates cookie stuffing. Nowadays, affiliates should disallow the injection of malicious code to stop cookie stuffing.
Style Sheets
Style sheets are integral to the responsiveness of a website. Developers rely on style sheets to code a website. Cascading Style Sheets ensure the steady display of the webpages of the website. Threat actors install the URL as a picture. It can contribute to cookie stuffing.
Your main aim should be the safeguard your advertising budget. Monitoring cookie stuffing can ensure the integrity of your affiliate network. Cookie stuffing also erodes the trust you have with your legitimate affiliates. The best monitoring solutions will monitor your traffic and raise a red flag during any possible violations.
How do Virus Positive Technologies help you Combat Cookie Stuffing?
VPT is your one-stop option for the monitoring of cookie stuffing and other types of affiliate traps and fraud. With its reliable affiliate management services, you can safeguard your brand online. VPT's advanced solutions monitor your digital networks in a consistent manner.
