The Rising Threat of Click Fraud in Fintech and Crypto Advertising

Fintech brands face some of the most punishing acquisition costs in digital marketing, every click is a premium. But a significant share of that spend never reaches real customers, it’s lost to click fraud, bot-driven installs and invalid traffic before ads even get a chance to convert.

Recent research by mFilterIt found that fintech brands face some of the highest invalid click rates across search advertising, with fraudulent clicks and fake affiliates draining up to 43% of campaign budgets.

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The Challenge

A leading global cryptocurrency platform was scaling user acquisition through paid search, targeting high-value keywords to capture traders and investors at intent-driven moments. However, despite strong traffic volumes, performance data told a different story. A large portion of clicks came from bots, invalid sources, and even existing users returning to log in through paid ads.

These invalid clicks inflated acquisition costs, distorted optimisation signals, and diverted spend away from genuine new users. Without a reliable way to distinguish real engagement from fraudulent or non-incremental activity, the platform’s growth efficiency and reporting accuracy were at risk.

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The Solution

By implementing TrafficGuard’s Search product, the crypto platform gained immediate visibility into the sources of invalid traffic and automated control over wasted spend.

TrafficGuard’s solution allowed the advertiser to:

• Detect and block fraudulent clicks in real time, preventing bots and automated scripts from consuming valuable search budget.
• Apply custom frequency rules, ensuring existing users could no longer trigger paid clicks when returning to log in.
• Validate every click before it enters reporting, removing noise and restoring accuracy to campaign data.
• Reinvest saved budget into acquiring genuine new users, improving return on ad spend and enabling scalable, sustainable growth.

With continuous monitoring and prevention in place, the platform’s paid search performance stabilised, and spend efficiency improved across all acquisition campaigns.

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The Results

Within the first 12 weeks, the crypto platform achieved measurable, high-impact results:

• $230,000 in ad spend saved by blocking invalid traffic and fraudulent clicks in real time
• $219,000 recovered from returning users who had previously clicked paid ads to log in
• Over 9,900 incremental conversions generated from budget redirected to acquiring new users
• 15% reduction in wasted ad spend across search campaigns

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With TrafficGuard, the platform transformed inefficient search spend into profitable growth. Fraudulent clicks, bots, and repeat visitors were filtered out automatically, ensuring every click contributed to real customer acquisition.

While fintech and crypto advertisers typically lose up to 25–40% of their digital ad budgets to invalid traffic, TrafficGuard’s platform cuts exposure to below 3%, setting a new benchmark for performance integrity in fintech marketing.

Want to see how much budget you could rescue? Reach out to the team, and start your free two-week audit today.

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