A former tech executive gathers a team of software developers in the basement of an undisclosed location. They set out t | dG1feVpnemp0ek1hUEE
Category
π₯
Short filmTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - Over the next few months,
00:06 we are going to try and experiment.
00:08 We are going to set up our very own ad fraud operation.
00:12 An operation that could potentially scale
00:17 to generate millions in fraudulent revenue.
00:20 - If you're asking how big ad fraud is,
00:23 it's like asking how big is the illegal drug market
00:27 in the US?
00:27 - It's hard to even take a wild guess
00:30 at how much money is being generated for criminals.
00:32 - I've seen everything from 33 billion to 60 billion.
00:36 - How much money we get is really controlled by us.
00:38 - How much was lost to ad fraud at Uber?
00:42 - $200 million paid off to basically criminals.
00:45 - None of us had seen anything like it.
00:48 - They have botnets,
00:49 so it looks like they have an audience.
00:51 - Fake views, fake clicks.
00:53 - Stop clicking on the ads to get money.
00:54 - They need content,
00:55 and now they can put ads on that site.
00:59 - We're escaping an article from a news site.
01:01 - I saw ads for some of the biggest brands in the world
01:04 juxtaposed against this extremist, hateful content.
01:07 Brands today don't have a clue
01:09 whether ads are appearing.
01:10 - Two sites to 20 sites,
01:12 all making $1,000 a day.
01:14 You just turn this dial,
01:16 and then the money just starts pouring in.
01:18 - That was easy.
01:20 - Facebook says they're showing these ads
01:22 to people somewhere.
01:23 - All of the clicks through were not real people.
01:26 I was able to see this in the Facebook analytics,
01:28 and it's quite clear.
01:30 I don't understand why you wouldn't stop fraud like that.
01:33 - The lax security can earn Google money.
01:36 At the same time,
01:36 it is stealing money from some of the poorest people
01:40 in the world.
01:40 (speaking in foreign language)
01:43 - There's now some victims that we didn't expect before.
01:46 The dollars are flowing away
01:47 from legitimate news publications.
01:51 - It's a information versus disinformation issue.
01:53 - Our democratic institutions are undergoing a stress test.
01:59 (dramatic music)
02:02 (upbeat music)
02:04 (upbeat music)