In advertising, AI is both a gift and a curse.
While it can streamline some of the industry’s more annoying tasks and lowers barriers to entry for creative work, coding, and beyond, it also creates new opportunities for bad actors. Case in point, a new report from DoubleVerify highlights this occurring in mobile, where fraudulent apps on iOS and Android have surged—partly fueled by AI.
According to DV, many of these apps resemble mobile MFA sites: low-quality apps generated with AI or backed by AI-made shell company websites to slip through app store reviews and lure downloads. “So far in 2025,” DV’s Fraud Lab reports, they’ve “already classified nearly three times more fraudulent iOS apps in comparison with the average volume over the last five years” and “nearly six times more fraudulent Android apps” over the same range/period.
Why This Matters:
AI isn’t going anywhere. The tools are getting more powerful and cheaper at the same time. That makes it easier than ever to spin up a low-quality app that fakes views or impressions. Just as importantly, the veneer of legitimacy has become easier to manufacture—AI can now generate shell sites and fake company pages far more convincingly than before.
DV’s report points to one app, Angry Space Shooter, which “managed to evade App Store detection and remain active, in part by creating a facade of reliability using LLM-produced language and a template site.” At the time of the report, the app was still live in the App Store (!).
Experts React:
Here’s a key passage from DV’s report:
2025 is proving to be a critical stress test for app marketplaces. DV has also observed a sharp rise in classifications of other types of low-quality or abnormal traffic from these apps, suggesting a broader systemic issue.
“There’s a noticeable increase in apps slipping through major marketplace review processes that were previously unlikely to be approved,” says Yuval Rubin, Fraud Detection Group Lead at DV. “This could point to a combination of more sophisticated fraud tactics.”
Our Take:
App fraud isn’t going away. People are spending more time on their phones, using more apps, and AI is only accelerating. To counter this, every player has a role. Measurement providers must catch and prevent fraud downstream, but app stores and phone makers need to step up upstream—ensuring these fraudulent apps never have the chance to generate impressions in the first place.
AdTechRadar is owned by Chris Harihar, who leads PR at Mod Op. DoubleVerify is a Mod Op client.
