Ads hijacking: understand how to protect your campaigns

Ads Hijacking, or ad hijacking, is a growing digital threat that goes beyond simple inconveniences: it undermines the integrity of your campaigns, diverts valuable traffic, and tarnishes your brand's reputation.

And in an increasingly competitive online environment, protecting your ads from dangerous practices is critical to ensuring return on investment and consumer trust.

Here at Branddi, we have years of experience monitoring and combating various forms of online threats, and ad hijacking is one of them. That's why we prepared this comprehensive guide to help you identify, prevent, and mitigate this threat.

Read on to discover how to shield your campaigns and ensure that your digital marketing efforts bring the expected results, without compromising your brand image!

What is ads hijacking?

The losses caused by fraud driven by Ads Hijacking are alarming. That's what a report from Juniper Research which points out that merchants worldwide are expected to lose up to US$ 400 billion in 2025.

Ads Hijacking, translated as “ad hijacking”, is a form of unfair competition in which offenders intercept and manipulate legitimate advertisements displayed on various digital platforms.

This negative practice can occur in a variety of ways, from inserting malware into browsers and creating malicious extensions, to exploiting vulnerabilities in ad networks and e-commerce platforms.

Imagine the following situation: a customer searches for a specific product of your brand on Google. Then, he clicks on the ad that appears at the top of the page, waiting to be directed to his official site.

However, due to ad hijacking, the consumer is redirected to a fake page that mimics your online store. That's exactly what we call ads hijacking!

In this scenario, Branddi stands out for offering monitoring and brand protection solutions that help mitigate the risks associated with this threat, allowing companies to focus on their business without worrying about these threats.

Shall we understand more about how ad hijacking works?

How does ads hijacking work?

Ads hijacking is manifested in a variety of ways, exploiting vulnerabilities at different points in the online advertising ecosystem. And that's why understanding the methods used by unfair users is the first step in protecting yourself.

Below, we detail some of the most common techniques:

• Malware and malicious extensions: these software can intercept ad traffic, redirecting users to fake pages or displaying unauthorized advertisements on legitimate sites;
• Ad retargeting: offenders can compromise advertiser accounts on platforms such as Google Ads by changing ad retargeting settings;
• Ad replacement: in some cases, offenders are able to replace legitimate ads with fake ads on websites and apps;
• Session theft: through techniques such as session hijacking, criminals can steal a user's session on a site or app.

According to data from Brazilian Anti-Counterfeiting Association (ABCF), digital scams, which include ads hijacking, grew 45% in 2024 in Brazil. And this significant increase demonstrates the sophistication and persistence of these unfair users, as well as the urgent need for more effective protection measures.

What are the threats of ad hijacking for brands?

Ads hijacking poses a serious risk to the reputation and financial performance of any brand that invests in online advertising. This is because the consequences range from the diversion of qualified traffic and the increase in customer acquisition costs, to the dissemination of false information and the loss of consumer confidence.

And we know how consumer trust is a valuable and difficult asset to conquer.

Next, we will detail the main threats that ads hijacking represents to brands, showing how this practice can harm your business in several ways.

Check it out:

Diversion of legitimate traffic

Ads hijacking diverts traffic from users who genuinely search for your products/services, redirecting them to fake or competing pages. This causes lost business opportunities because you pay for clicks that don't convert.

In addition, it impairs positioning in search engines, which consider the rejection rate and the time spent on the site.

Damage to brand reputation

Ads hijacking can cause serious damage to your brand's reputation. That's because when users are redirected to fake pages or sites with inappropriate content, they can have a negative experience and associate that experience with your brand.

In addition, if offenders use brand impersonation techniques to impersonate your company, disclosing false information or offering low quality products/services, consumer trust may be irreversibly shaken.

Proof of this is that, according to a study by the company Callsign, 57.8% of consumers lose trust in a brand after being exposed to dangerous or false content associated with it.

Unfair competition

Ads hijacking can be used as unfair competition, where competitors intercept your ads to drive traffic to your sites, taking advantage of your investment. This unethical practice distorts the market and undermines free competition.

Branddi offers competition monitoring solutions that can identify ad hijacking practices and other forms of unfair competition, allowing you to take appropriate measures to protect your interests.

Thus, by identifying and neutralizing these actions, you guarantee a fairer and more balanced field of action for your brand.

Loss of control over the brand's message

In ads hijacking, you lose control over the transmitted message, as these competitors alter the content, enter false information, or display ads that are misaligned with the brand.

This compromises communication and impairs brand perception, and may lead to the disclosure of offensive or illegal content with serious consequences.

Impact on the ROI of advertising campaigns

Ads hijacking directly impacts the return on investment (ROI) of your advertising campaigns. After all, by diverting legitimate traffic and displaying fake ads, offenders inflate their marketing costs and reduce the effectiveness of their campaigns.

In other words, in short, you're paying for clicks that don't generate results, which lowers your conversion rate and your final profit.

Difficulty in performance analysis

Ads hijacking makes it difficult to analyze the performance of campaigns, as diverted traffic or adulterated ads make the data inaccurate and does not reflect reality.

This prevents the identification of strengths and weaknesses, strategic decision-making and the optimization of investments, in addition to masking serious problems such as the presence of malware.

Damage to relationships with partners and investors

Does ads hijacking harm the relationship with partners and investors, because the association of the brand with fraud undermines the trust of these stakeholders. That is, business partners may withdraw and investors may lose interest, concerned about financial and image risks.

Transparency and effective protection against these cases are essential to maintaining trust.

Costs of legal actions

In more serious cases, ad hijacking may result in legal action costs. This is because, if your brand is used to carry out scams or fraud against consumers, you may be prosecuted for moral and material damages.

Additionally, if you identify competitors deliberately practicing ad hijacking, you can file a lawsuit for unfair competition.

Ads hijacking and affiliate marketing

O affiliate marketing, although it is an effective strategy to boost sales, it can become fertile ground for ads hijacking when there is no strict control.

That's because malicious affiliates can use malicious tactics to hijack legitimate ad traffic and direct it to their own affiliate pages, seeking easy and undue commissions.

Do you know how that happens?

• Brand Bidding: dishonest affiliates may use your brand name as a keyword in their sponsored link campaigns, which is known as brand bidding. This causes their ads to appear when users search for your brand, diverting traffic that should go to your official site;
• Clandestine redirection: affiliates may use retargeting techniques to send traffic from their ads to landing pages other than those advertised, often to sites with low-quality or even malicious content.

These practices not only harm your ROI, but they also compromise your brand reputation, since users may be exposed to negative experiences or low-quality products/services.

According to data from E-commerce portal Brazil, the number of Brazilian affiliates increased by 8% in 2023, demonstrating the growth of this market and the importance of protecting against these issues.

In other words, it is essential that companies establish strict criteria for the selection of affiliates and closely monitor their activities in order to identify and combat ad hijacking.

What are the main signs of ads hijacking?

Identifying ad hijacking in your campaigns can be a challenge, but being aware of certain warning signs is critical to protecting your brand.

Below, we've listed some of the key indicators that your ads may be being hijacked:

• Abrupt drop in impressions: may indicate that traffic is being diverted by competitors or unfair partners;
• Unusual increase in click-through rate (CTR): a very high CTR, especially if not accompanied by an increase in conversions, may be a sign that clicks are being generated by bots;
• Reduction in conversions: your ads may be being directed to fake or low-quality pages;
• Abnormal traffic in certain regions: a sudden increase in traffic from geographic regions that are unusual or irrelevant to your business may indicate that your ads are being shown to an unqualified audience;
• Inconsistent affiliate commissions: if you have an affiliate program, be aware of very high commissions or payments to affiliates with suspicious activity;
• Customer complaints: pay attention to comments and complaints from customers who report being redirected to fake pages or having had negative experiences clicking on your ads.

When identifying one or more of these signs, it's important to thoroughly investigate the situation and take appropriate steps to protect your campaigns and your brand's reputation.

Main ad hijacking techniques

Unfair competitors are constantly improving their techniques to hijack ads and exploit vulnerabilities in the online advertising ecosystem. And that's why knowing the main tactics used by them is essential to anticipate attacks and protect your campaigns.

Below, we'll detail some of the most common techniques used by offenders to hijack ads, showing how they work and how you can protect yourself.

Graphical errors

The graphical error technique, also known as typosquatting, involves registering domains with spellings similar to your brand, exploiting common user typing errors.

Offenders create sites with these domains to display fake ads or redirect traffic to competing pages.

To protect yourself, register common variations of your domain and monitor the web for sites with similar spellings.

Use of secondary search engines

Some competitors or unfair partners exploit secondary search engines, lesser-known and with more fragile security policies, to display false advertisements or redirect traffic to malicious pages.

To protect yourself, monitor the traffic source of your campaigns, block traffic from suspicious sources, and make your customers aware of the risks of using untrustworthy search engines.

Redirects

The retargeting technique consists of intercepting traffic from your ads and directing it to pages other than those you defined in your campaigns.

These users can use a variety of methods to carry out these redirects, such as injecting malicious code into legitimate sites or exploiting vulnerabilities in ad servers.

According to a report from Technoblog, 42% of web traffic is generated by bots, and a large part of them is used for malicious actions, such as false redirects.

To protect yourself, use traffic monitoring and online protection tools, such as Branddi, and implement robust security measures on your sites and servers.

Temporary restrictions

The temporary restrictions technique consists of displaying false advertisements or redirecting traffic only at certain times or days of the week, making it difficult to identify ads hijacking.

To do this, these scammers can schedule their attacks to take place during the night or on weekends, when their monitoring team is less active.

To protect yourself, implement continuous monitoring of your campaigns, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and use anomaly detection tools to identify unusual traffic patterns.

Geo-targeting

The geo-targeting technique consists of displaying false advertisements or redirecting traffic only to users located in certain geographical regions, making it difficult to identify these threats.

In addition, unfair competitors can target their attacks to countries or cities with lower surveillance or where your company does not have a strong presence.

To protect yourself, monitor your campaign traffic by geographic region and investigate any sudden increase in traffic from areas that are unusual or irrelevant to your business.

How to protect your brand from ads hijacking?

Protecting your brand against ad hijacking requires a proactive and comprehensive approach, from implementing robust protection measures to continuous monitoring of your campaigns.

Um Mastercard study revealed that 64% of Brazilian companies are targets of medium or high frequency digital attacks, which demonstrates the importance of investing in Shielding marketing to protect your assets and the trust of your customers.

Here are some of the key steps you can take to protect your brand from ad hijacking:

Protect your keywords

The first step in defending yourself against ad hijacking is to protect your passwords.

To do this, actively monitor who is using your brand name in advertisements and, if you identify misuse, report the brand bidding cases on advertising platforms, requesting the removal of infringing advertisements.

To further strengthen your protection, consider registering your keywords as a trademark, preventing competitors from taking advantage of your name to attract traffic.

Report suspected cases

Identifying suspicious activity requires swift and effective action. Therefore, when faced with suspicious advertisements, fake pages or any evidence of ads hijacking, report the case both to advertising platforms and to the competent authorities.

Provide as much information as possible, aiding in the investigations and punishments of offenders and contributing to a safer and more transparent online environment for everyone.

Have a clear partnership policy

If you work in affiliate marketing, establish a clear partnership policy that expressly prohibits the use of ad hijacking techniques.

In addition, monitor the activities of your affiliates to ensure that they are complying with established rules, and apply sanctions in case of non-compliance, such as the suspension or cancellation of the partnership.

Remember: transparency and ethics are fundamental to a successful and conflict-free affiliate program.

Bet on Branddi monitoring

As we've said several times, continuous monitoring is the key to protecting your brand from ad hijacking. For this reason, Branddi offers complete brand monitoring solutions, which use cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence to identify suspicious activities in real time.

Our tools scan the web for fake ads, unfair competition, brand impersonation, and other forms of ads hijacking, allowing for a quick and effective response to protect your campaigns and your brand's reputation.

Visit the Branddi website now and discover how we can help you protect your brand against ads hijacking!