How to Organize Your Fraud Prevention Committee

Organizations are often filled with committees and boards spearheading different business functions to drive business objectives. Yet, few companies are actually implementing a committee for ad fraud prevention. But given that firms are expected to lose $100 billion to ad fraud by 2023, ad fraud prevention should really be a core focus for any business running digital ad campaigns. 

Relying on disjointed anti-fraud systems and departments to prevent ad fraud is simply not good enough. Instead, a holistic fraud prevention committee that is woven into the company’s corporate strategy is needed to truly oversee the entire role of ad fraud prevention and stop ad fraud in its tracks. 

In this article, we explore the importance of fraud prevention committees, and how establishing one will help organizations achieve their acquisition, growth, and revenue targets.

What is a fraud prevention committee?

A fraud prevention committee is a group of individuals tasked with overseeing deterring ad fraud within a company. 

Many individuals from several departments and functions should be present on a fraud prevention committee, and each will have its own specific set of responsibilities. Let’s explore who exactly should sit on your fraud prevention committee, and what roles they should play.

Who should sit on the fraud prevention committee?

Marketing functions 

The marketing function is the most relevant to the fraud prevention committee as it is ultimately responsible for advertising as a means of generating awareness, prospects, and buyers. Marketing departments who are responsible for advertising and branding activities, as well as acquisitions, will provide inputs on key campaigns, user channels, and partners that may be subject to ad fraud. These members will likely include an organization’s CMO, Director of Advertising, Head of Paid Media, and Affiliate Manager.

Sales functions

For lead generation-based advertisers, the sales department is an important function that must be represented on the committee. The sales team will provide frontline advice as to whether conversations with prospects are advancing, or whether ad fraud could be impacting their lead generation efforts.

Finance teams 

These teams can provide cost analysis information, and are mostly interested in the cost savings that can be generated from a dedicated fraud prevention process. These members will likely include an organization’s CFO and FP&A analysts. 

Growth and analytics teams

These teams depend on fraud-free data to make relevant business decisions. They also provide a very detailed understanding of data and metrics at an aggregate level (to identify patterns), as well as on an event-level (to spearhead investigations).

Fraud prevention committees are necessary even though anti-ad fraud systems exist

Anti-fraud systems are just one part of what a new fraud prevention process needs to be able to reap the benefits. Organizations also need to gather the relevant people to oversee it and establish a process and make sure there is a continuous improvement process, similar to the Plan, Do, Check, and Act Cycle. 

Regardless of who leads the fraud prevention committee, one must be established. Ensuring that your fraud prevention process is working helps prevent budgetary losses, helps keep your data clean of ad fraud, and helps you achieve your business goals by preventing ad fraud. 

Protect your organization with a fraud prevention committee 

Although you may have anti-fraud systems in place, these must be aligned with fraud prevention processes, which need to be directed by a holistic fraud prevention committee. 

As well as an actual committee, your organization needs to ensure that conversations surrounding fraud prevention continue on a daily basis throughout operational teams. We’ve outlined the teams and individuals that should sit on the committee. 

Additionally, depending on your industry, it may make sense to include another operational team that incorporates specialists from each function i.e. a PPC specialist from marketing, a revenue operations specialist from sales, and a financial controller from finance. 

In other cases, such as SaaS-based companies, it may also make sense for product teams to sit on the fraud prevention committee since any data skewed by ad fraud (i.e. fraudulent freemium users) can impact decisions made on product improvements for real users. 

However, equal representation is key to a fraud prevention committee since each department will contribute different perspectives that will be relevant when managing the fraud prevention process. 

When you build a fraud prevention committee, you’ll be better placed to successfully block ad fraud and achieve your business objectives.

Opticks provides ad fraud detection and prevention for leading businesses worldwide. To find out how we can help safeguard your organization, book a demo here.