According to Pixalate research, ‘High Risk IP’ came second on Google Play Store and ‘Masked IP‘ was second on Apple App Store for the highest fraud Share of Voice (SOV) on each platform
LONDON, June 10, 2026 -- Pixalate, an ad fraud and privacy compliance platform, today released the May 2026 Most Common Mobile Ad Fraud Types Report. The report examines the most common types of invalid traffic among mobile apps globally on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Regional insights are available for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and North America.
For these reports, Pixalate’s data science team analyzed more than 18 billion open programmatic advertising impressions across Google Play Store and Apple App Store in May 2026.
|
Rank |
Platform |
Region |
Fraud Type |
Fraud Share of Voice (SOV) - May 2026 |
|
1 |
Google Playstore |
GLOBAL |
High Risk Device ID |
32% |
|
2 |
Google Playstore |
GLOBAL |
High Risk IP |
17% |
|
3 |
Google Playstore |
GLOBAL |
Device ID Stuffing |
12% |
|
4 |
Google Playstore |
GLOBAL |
Masked IP |
10% |
|
5 |
Google Playstore |
GLOBAL |
Display Impression Fraud |
8% |
|
Rank |
Platform |
Region |
Fraud Type |
Fraud Share of Voice (SOV) - May 2026 |
|
1 |
iOS |
GLOBAL |
High Risk IP |
48% |
|
2 |
iOS |
GLOBAL |
Masked IP |
12% |
|
3 |
iOS |
GLOBAL |
High Risk Device ID |
10% |
|
4 |
iOS |
GLOBAL |
Display Impression Fraud |
8% |
|
5 |
iOS |
GLOBAL |
Device ID Stuffing |
4% |
Download the May 2026 IVT Types
About Pixalate
Pixalate is a global platform specializing in privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and digital ad supply chain data intelligence. Founded in 2012, Pixalate is trusted by regulators, data researchers, advertisers, publishers, ad tech platforms, and financial analysts across the Connected TV (CTV), mobile app, and website ecosystems. Pixalate is accredited by the MRC for the detection and filtration of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT). pixalate.com
Disclaimer
The content of this press release, and the Most Common Mobile App Ad Fraud Types Reports (the "Reports"), reflects Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Any data shared is grounded in Pixalate’s proprietary technology and analytics, which Pixalate is continuously evaluating and updating. Any references to outside sources should not be construed as endorsements. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees. Pixalate is sharing this data not to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but, instead, to report findings and trends pertaining to programmatic advertising activity across in the time period studied. Per the Media Rating Council (MRC), “‘Invalid Traffic’ is defined generally as traffic that does not meet certain ad serving quality or completeness criteria, or otherwise does not represent legitimate ad traffic that should be included in measurement counts. Among the reasons why ad traffic may be deemed invalid is it is a result of non-human traffic (spiders, bots, etc.), or activity designed to produce fraudulent traffic.” Where the traffic characteristics are suggestive of deliberate intent to mislead, such IVT is often referred to as “ad fraud.” Also per the MRC, “'Fraud' is not intended to represent fraud as defined in various laws, statutes and ordinances or as conventionally used in U.S. Court or other legal proceedings, but rather a custom definition strictly for advertising measurement purposes.”