Duplicate IP
Duplicate IPs are a mobile fraud tactic where app installs are generated from clicks under the same IP over a short period of time.
What are Duplicate IPs?
To understand the concept of duplicate IPs, let’s first make sure we know what an IP is.
IP stands for “internet protocol” and is essentially like mailing address (but composed of numbers) for a device connected to the internet, or a local network.
While it’s feasible (yet highly improbable) that a bunch of people sitting in the same cafe, using the same public wifi would see the same ad, there’s a very small chance that more than more than one of them would actually click on the ad and an even smaller chance they’ed go on to install the app.
A more realistic explanation for this sort of pattern is that a fraudster wanted to generate as may clicks/installs as possible from a physical location on several devices before moving on to another location or refreshing their IP address.
Why duplicate IPs are a fraud tactic
So why would a fraudster want to generate a bunch of clicks or installs?
Well, there are a bunch of pricing models out there where advertisers have to pay up on basis of these actions – CPM, CPI, CPA, etc. – and the more, the merrier (for the fraudsters, of course).
