{"id":602115,"date":"2023-01-28T07:49:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T13:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/28\/wtf-is-cookie-stuffing\/"},"modified":"2023-01-28T07:49:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T13:49:25","slug":"wtf-is-cookie-stuffing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/28\/wtf-is-cookie-stuffing\/","title":{"rendered":"WTF is cookie stuffing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<main id=\"main\" role=\"main\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><span>January 27, 2023<\/span> |  By <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/author\/ricardo\/\" title=\"Ricardo Bilton\">Ricardo Bilton<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1030\" height=\"579\" alt decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=640,360 640w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=265,150 265w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=749,422 749w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=320,180 320w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=300,170 300w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=215,122 215w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=230,130 230w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=1030,579 1030w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=760,427 760w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=290,163 290w, https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?resize=180,100 180w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 1030px) 100vw, 1030px\" src=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/baking-cookies.jpg?w=1030&#038;h=579&#038;crop=1&#038;is-pending-load=1\" ><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tIvy Liu\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>Originally published on Mar. 24, 2015, this article has been updated to include an explainer video that covers <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.confiant.com\/malvertiser-makes-the-big-bucks-on-black-friday-637922cd5865\">a cookie-stuffing scheme exposed by cybersecurity firm Confiant in January 2023<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s money changing hands online fraudsters are going to try to find a way to skim a percentage from the transaction. Fraud is a well-documented pox on digital advertising, but it\u2019s also an issue for publishers and marketers working together on affiliate marketing deals, too. One of the more tried-and-true techniques is cookie stuffing. Let us explain.<\/p>\n<div id=\"piano-meter-offer\">\n<figure>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WTF is cookie stuffing?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0Co3poBACBg?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong>First: explain what a cookie is?<\/strong><br \/>A cookie is a tiny bit of code that \u00a0a website drops in a user\u2019s browser. Sites use cookies to store user data such as login details, shopping carts, or user preferences. Various advertising companies also use \u201ctracking\u201d cookies to collect data and keep tabs on people\u2019s browsing history, which they use to serve targeted ads. It\u2019s also used by publishers to tell retailers user when users click one of their affiliate marketing links<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affiliate marketing?<\/strong><br \/>There\u2019s a lot of jargon here. Affiliate marketing is a process through which one business pays another for either bringing in clicks or, for retailers, sales on their sites. So if publisher X sends some visitors to Amazon to buy toothpaste, publisher X gets a small percentage of those sales, usually pennies on the dollar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So WTF is cookie stuffing?<\/strong><br \/>With cookie stuffing, while publisher X sends visitors to Amazon, a separate publisher actually gets credit \u2014 and hence money \u2014 for the sale. They do this by dropping multiple cookies after someone views a page or clicks on a single link. The hope is that dropping multiple cookies increases the chance that the person will go on to visit and buy from one of the commerce sites in question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCookie stuffing creates wrongful attribution,\u201d said Forensiq CEO David Sendroff. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially stealing the credit for someone else\u2019s attribution.\u201d He said surreptitiously dropped cookies often replace those from legitimate publishers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where do these fake cookies come from?<\/strong><br \/>The fake cookies come from a variety of sources \u2014 including pop-ups, scripts, toolbars and images embedded in message boards. Cookie stuffing is also common on online coupon sites, which fraudsters uses to drop handfuls affiliate cookies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why does it matter?<\/strong><br \/>It matters because many more publishers are getting into affiliate linking. Gawker, for example, compiles a long list of affiliate link each days via its Kinja Deals series, and takes a cut whenever readers make a purchase. More affiliate linking fraud means less revenue for legitimate publishers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It seems like a small problem.<\/strong><br \/>It isn\u2019t.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/business_insider\/2014\/05\/03\/shawn_hogan_ceo_of_digital_point_solutions_and_former_ebay_affiliated_marketer.html\">Marketer Shawn Hogan helped scam eBay out of $28 million<\/a> in online marketing fees from eBay before the company worked with the FBI to catch him in a sting operation. Hogan got sentenced to 5 months in prison, three years probation, and a $25,000 fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So why hasn\u2019t cookie stuffing been stamped out?<\/strong><br \/>The problem is that people like Hogan are the exception: Affiliate linking scammers are pretty hard to catch.\u00a0For advertisers, hallmarks of cookie stuffing can include abnormally high or low conversation rates,\u00a0depending on the techniques scammers use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith cookie stuffing, you\u2019re committing a crime against another affiliate or the advertisers who is paying commissions on sales that would have happened anyway,\u201d Sendroff said. \u201cIt\u2019s not as eye-opening and it\u2019s harder to catch because the advertiser has\u00a0still made money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/23679420@N00\/4573098159\/in\/photolist-7Y7jKZ-89LSM6-a5yee4-issbq-8Z4xFq-azWV26-7ZvAct-ah8KC4-7gfv3x-89VAed-7eJ4NA-3eYah4-7MV5d4-7Vkv1H-5yxHZ9-4SRqg-dCLvkS-82ZQWj-5AHJWJ-e5EUvq-fLx1Ye-6cKDYU-54GYhY-4F9L8S-99WQXN-8at321-ekkNpY-7xGCoJ-e5ziDX-bzMmgt-MbNs3-4F9Lf7-bx2oY4-hoab1E-7BbeD3-7q5g1u-5LfPCv-9qt7C3-cKb6co-7rsgKX-7rwcDf-99WRjo-i3UJ9c-92GKid-bsG762-4bNQ1u-Tw7m-8ZiyNo-2osBZv-mxhSh\"><em>Photo:\u00a0Rajiv Patel\/Flickr<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?utm_source=facebook&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_campaign=digidaysiteshare&#038;utm_content=WTF%20is%20cookie%20stuffing%3F&#038;u=https%3A%2F%2Fdigiday.com%2Fmedia%2Fwtf-cookie-stuffing%2F\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?utm_source=twitter&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_campaign=digidaysiteshare&#038;utm_content=WTF%20is%20cookie%20stuffing%3F&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigiday.com%2Fmedia%2Fwtf-cookie-stuffing%2F&#038;via=digiday&#038;text=WTF%20is%20cookie%20stuffing%3F\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?utm_source=linkedin&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_campaign=digidaysiteshare&#038;utm_content=WTF%20is%20cookie%20stuffing%3F&#038;mini=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigiday.com%2Fmedia%2Fwtf-cookie-stuffing%2F\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on LinkedIn\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/digiday.com\/mailto:fr****@*****le.com\" data-original-string=\"2Ux8RmMFuaydUAYQhaMP3A==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\" title=\"This contact has been encoded by Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.?subject=Check%20out%20this%20piece%20from%20Digiday&#038;body=WTF%20is%20cookie%20stuffing%3F%0D%0A%0D%0AFraud%20is%20a%20well-documented%20pox%20on%20digital%20advertising%2C%20but%20it%E2%80%99s%20also%20an%20issue%20for%20publishers%20and%20marketers%20working%20together%20on%20affiliate%20marketing%20deals%2C%20too.%20One%20of%20the%20more%20tried-and-true%20techniques%20is%20cookie%20stuffing.%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fdigiday.com%2Fmedia%2Fwtf-cookie-stuffing%2F\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share via email\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>https:\/\/digiday.com\/?p=111748<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Digiday Top Stories<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/some-publishers-report-that-q1-ad-revenue-is-pacing-10-25-behind-forecasts\/\" title=\"Publishers report Q1 ad revenue is pacing 10-25% behind forecasts\">Publishers report Q1 ad revenue is pacing 10-25% behind forecasts<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publishers are facing a slow start to Q1 and sales teams have a lot of work to do to regain lost time.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/some-publishers-report-that-q1-ad-revenue-is-pacing-10-25-behind-forecasts\/\" title=\"Publishers report Q1 ad revenue is pacing 10-25% behind forecasts\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/why-vice-bbc-wapo-others-see-new-tiktok-teams-as-the-next-wave-of-specialist-publishing-talent\/\" title=\"Why Vice, BBC, WaPo, others see new TikTok teams as the next wave of specialist publishing talent\">Why Vice, BBC, WaPo, others see new TikTok teams as the next wave of specialist publishing talent<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As news publishers craft their TikTok strategies, Digiday spoke with the BBC, Vice, The Washington Post and LADbible to see who\u2019s really behind the posts.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/why-vice-bbc-wapo-others-see-new-tiktok-teams-as-the-next-wave-of-specialist-publishing-talent\/\" title=\"Why Vice, BBC, WaPo, others see new TikTok teams as the next wave of specialist publishing talent\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/digiday-research-deep-dive-publishers-anticipate-a-big-drop-in-ad-revenue-this-year\/\" title=\"Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers anticipate a big drop in ad revenue this year\">Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers anticipate a big drop in ad revenue this year<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Digiday&#8217;s survey found that publishers are not feeling great about advertising revenue as 2023 kicks off, with attitudes toward subscriptions and e-commerce shifting as well.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/digiday-research-deep-dive-publishers-anticipate-a-big-drop-in-ad-revenue-this-year\/\" title=\"Digiday+ Research deep dive: Publishers anticipate a big drop in ad revenue this year\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/media-briefing-subscriber-churn-is-up-but-the-economic-downturn-isnt-necessarily-to-blame\/\" title=\"Media Briefing: Subscriber churn is up, but the economic downturn isn\u2019t necessarily to blame\">Media Briefing: Subscriber churn is up, but the economic downturn isn\u2019t necessarily to blame<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Even though subscription growth is declining year over year and churn rates are on the rise, this is likely more a story of returning to normalization than one of the economic downturn damaging yet another publisher business.  <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/media-briefing-subscriber-churn-is-up-but-the-economic-downturn-isnt-necessarily-to-blame\/\" title=\"Media Briefing: Subscriber churn is up, but the economic downturn isn\u2019t necessarily to blame\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/business-publishers-rethink-how-they-can-retain-subscribers-during-the-economic-downturn\/\" title=\"Bloomberg, Axios, Politico, other business publishers rethink subscriber retention during the economic downturn\">Bloomberg, Axios, Politico, other business publishers rethink subscriber retention during the economic downturn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Premium publishers, like POLITICO, Axios and Bloomberg, have to make sure their fees are still considered a necessity as readers recalculate their spending and companies recalculate their expense budgets.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/business-publishers-rethink-how-they-can-retain-subscribers-during-the-economic-downturn\/\" title=\"Bloomberg, Axios, Politico, other business publishers rethink subscriber retention during the economic downturn\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t<\/main><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/wtf-cookie-stuffing\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Ricardo Bilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 27, 2023 | By Ricardo Bilton Ivy Liu Originally published on Mar. 24, 2015, this article has been updated to include an explainer video that covers a cookie-stuffing scheme exposed by cybersecurity firm Confiant in January 2023. If there\u2019s money changing hands online fraudsters are going to try to find a way to skim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":602116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22473,91920,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cookie","category-stuffing","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}