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Ad hijacking: how to protect yourself quickly & effectively

Learn how affiliate fraudsters hijack brand ads and cause serious financial damage, and how you can protect your company quickly and effectively.

Free brand checkHow detection works
Searchbrand voucherAdbrand.comRedirectPartner ID 48213Destinationbrand.com/checkoutDetected · 21:52 · FrankfurtSearchbrand voucherAdbrand.comRedirectPartner ID 48213Destinationbrand.com/checkoutDetected · 21:52 · Frankfurt
AdBrand owner
SponsoredBrandwww.marke.de › shop

Brand – official online shop

Shop now in the official Brand online store. Free shipping from €50.

Click stays with youmarke.de/shop

Copied 1:1

CopyAd-Hijacker

Same ad copy, same display URL

Ad-Hijacking

Click goes through an affiliate link

partner-netz.de/c?pid=48213Commission

Same ad copy. Different click. Unjustified commission.

When affiliates pose as the brand owner.

What is ad hijacking?

Ad hijacking is one of the most sophisticated forms of affiliate fraud.

An affiliate runs their own ads on the brand owner's brand keywords, using the owner's display URL and almost identical copy.

Because search engines allow only one ad per display URL, the affiliate displaces the original ad with a slightly higher CPC. The click runs through their affiliate link and quietly generates an unjustified commission.

Chart: on the map of Germany there are no unusual ads around Your headquarters, but there are in other cities. In the weekly pattern every hit falls outside office hours, in the evening, early in the morning, and on the weekend.

Ad detectedChecked, nothing unusualYour field of view in a manual search

Invisible to brand owners, visible to SEMSCOUT.

Why fraudsters often go undetected.

Clever fraudsters hide their ads on purpose: they exclude the brand owner's business locations and run campaigns only in the evening, on weekends, or in specific regions.

That keeps hijacked ads invisible in your manual search tests, while commissions flow to the wrong partners day after day.

Case 2291Ad-Hijacking
Search term
brand coupon
Detected
Friday, 21:52 in Frankfurt am Main
Display URL
marke.de matches your original ad
Redirect chain
  1. partner-netz.de/c?pid=48213
  2. go.partner-netz.de/r/48213
  3. marke.de/gutschein?aff=48213
Network
partner-netz.de
Publisher ID
48213
Evidence
Ad, 21:52:08
Landing page, 21:52:11
  1. DetectedSEMSCOUT
  2. DocumentedSEMSCOUT
  3. Commission reversedYour team
  4. Partner suspendedYour team
Example of a case file. With the network, redirect chain, and publisher ID you reverse the commission and suspend the partner, documented by timestamped screenshots.

Detect ad hijacking before it costs you budget.

An end to fraudulent commissions

We monitor your brand keywords up to 200 times a day from hundreds of locations within the country, and detect ad hijacking in real time.

When an affiliate ad looks suspicious, you receive all the relevant data (network, redirects, publisher ID) to reverse commissions and block the partner immediately.

Illustrative trend of monthly affiliate commissions. Through May, every month includes a substantial share of unjustified commissions. From Jun with SEMSCOUT there are no unjustified commissions, and total cost stays below the previous level.

Illustrative trend. Once SEMSCOUT is in place, unjustified commissions are reversed and the partners are suspended. Only commissions of your genuine partners remain.

Transparency builds trust and saves real money.

The result: clean partners. Budget saved.

By uncovering ad hijacking, you remove fraudulent partners from your affiliate program and stop unjustified commission payments.

Our customers save six-figure amounts per year in some cases, and win back clean data, lower costs, and full brand presence.

Used by top brands worldwide

  • OTTO Austria
  • Hurra.com
  • Flyeralarm
  • XXXLutz
  • Conrad
  • ERGO

Brand protection experience since 2009

  • Intelligent monitoring

    Our system checks at random intervals and from hundreds of locations per country, up to 200 times a day per keyword.

  • Regional results

    Geotargeting also uncovers affiliates and brand bidders that run ads only in specific regions.

  • Automatic prioritization

    We prioritize every result list by the type and frequency of the violation, so you know which cases to handle first.

  • Defensible documentation

    We store every case with screenshots of the ads and landing pages, including exact timestamps.

  • Multi-client and team-ready

    Manage separate logins and permissions so internal teams and external partners can work together.

  • Custom workflows

    Adapt case handling to the way your company works.

Protect your brand now.

Free brand check

We monitor your brand terms for seven days and show you in a live demo who is bidding on your brand.