4. It's a multi-billion-dollar industry
Affiliate marketing is a significant driver in the global economy, with the industry valued at over $12 billion globally.
Major affiliate networks like Commission Junction (CJ), Rakuten Marketing, and ShareASale facilitate billions in sales each year.
For example, Rakuten Marketing, part of Rakuten Inc., reported generating billions in sales revenue annually for its advertisers through its affiliate network.
It doesn't mean that all affiliate programs and the affiliates mobile no database themselves are legitimate. In the affiliate market, scams are on the rise as the popularity of it is growing.
Let's look at the numbers.
According to this study, 17% of traffic coming from affiliate programs was determined to be fake . It lost the industry approximately $3.4 billion to ad fraud in 2022.
This number has almost doubled since 2020, when 10% of the traffic was fraudulent.
Here are fraudulent activities you may encounter in affiliate marketing:
1. Pay-to-join affiliate programs
The rule of a thumb is you never pay to join the affiliate program. Legit affiliate programs are free to join for anyone interested.
Since the merchant pays you for every sale, lead, or click, there's no sense in charging you the onboarding fee.
Pay-to-join is a huge red flag for anyone who's starting out their affiliate career, and it's best to stay away from such a program.
