Behind the Speed: Ad fraud in quick commerce could cost brands up to Rs 1000 crore

In the booming quick commerce sector - led by the likes of Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart - speed isn't the only thing accelerating. So is ad fraud. As brands chase consumers in their “10-minute delivery” moment, they’re also exposing themselves to increasingly sophisticated digital threats that could quietly siphon off up to Rs 1,000 crore annually in wasted ad spend.

Experts tell Storyboard18 that from bot clicks to spoofed locations, click injection to invisible impressions, ad fraud is fast becoming the industry's worst-kept secret - and its most expensive one.

“Quick commerce has redefined how consumers shop, but the ecosystem’s closed-loop structure and hyper-speed environment also make it fertile ground for ad fraud,” says Raj Swaminathan, Sr. Director – Revenues and New Initiatives at Globale Media. “Platforms are showing massive ad spends but little conversion. Often, it’s bots and hijacked installs gaming the system.”

A notable instance involves a major quick commerce platform that encountered severe pay-per-click (PPC) fraud within its app advertising campaigns. Despite substantial ad spend aimed at retargeting users, the platform observed low conversions. Upon investigation, it was revealed that bots and hijacked installs were inflating engagement metrics, leading to misleading insights and ineffective campaign strategies, shares Swaminathan.

His concerns are echoed by a PwC India report, which pegs 57% of all fraud incidents in India under ‘platform frauds’, a category that includes e-commerce and quick commerce. That’s a red flag for marketers who are now allocating 15–20% of their digital budgets to q-commerce - a sharp jump from 3–5% just a couple of years ago.

Ad fraud significantly undermines the efficiency and effectiveness of a brand’s advertising budget. By artificially inflating engagement metrics, experts say, it gives brands a false sense of campaign success, prompting continued investment in underperforming strategies. This not only leads to wasted ad spend but also distorts ROI measurement, expert noted. Furthermore, inflated metrics can skew data analytics, leading to misguided business decisions.

The nature of quick commerce - high frequency, hyper-local targeting, impulse buys - makes it ideal for performance marketing. But it’s also what opens the floodgates to fraud.

Vishal Agrahari, VP – Paid Media at BC Webwise, outlines four common scams.

Click Fraud: Bots inflate clicks on product listings, raising costs with zero returns; Impression Fraud: Hidden ad loads that count as views but are never seen; Location Fraud: Spoofing apps trick systems into believing high-income users are engaging; and Attribution Fraud: Malware hijacks credit for conversions just before purchase.

Also, to increase revenue, the quick commerce platforms consistently use influencer partnerships and affiliate marketing. These channels may be vulnerable to fraud, including bot-generated activity and phony referrals.

What’s at Stake?

Several industry experts, including a source from a fraud detection firm, flag the same issue: lack of transparency. “These platforms operate as closed ecosystems. Brands can’t access granular campaign data, and third-party validation is next to impossible. It’s like flying blind.”

Mihir Mehta, Managing Partner at 0101, believes that without proactive intervention, things could spiral quickly. “Right now, fraud might be limited to 10–20% of spends, but as volumes rise, so will the problem. If brands don’t act, this could turn into a systemic issue.”

Fraudulent data pollutes analytics, making it challenging to understand genuine customer behaviour and preferences. This hinders brands' ability to make data-driven decisions and optimize their marketing strategies. "Ad fraud creates a cycle of wasted spending, inaccurate data, and damaged brand reputation, ultimately hindering brands' ability to achieve their marketing goals on quick commerce platforms," highlights Agrahari.

Add to that the missed opportunity cost - what could have been achieved with that budget elsewhere - and the impact snowballs.

Says Prashant Puri, CEO of AdLift, "Ad fraud skews campaign performance and inflates key metrics, leading to wasted budgets and misleading KPIs. In many cases, brands are unknowingly paying for fake impressions, bot-driven clicks, and non-human installs — all of which erode ROI. Since a majority of campaigns on quick commerce platforms are performance-driven (think: CPC, CPI, CPM), even a modest level of fraud — say 20–30% — can significantly inflate costs and distort decision-making."

India, being a high-growth market, is especially vulnerable — ranked among the top five globally in install hijacking and click injection. Interestingly, AdLift has observed higher susceptibility in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where local vendor systems tend to be less tech-enabled, making them easy targets for fraud networks.

Puri estimates that ad spends on quick commerce platforms in India are already in the range of Rs 2,500–Rs 3,500 crore annually — and this is only expected to grow as the model becomes more embedded in consumer behavior. "20–35% of quick commerce ad spends, which is up to Rs 1,000 crore, may be compromised by fraud. “That kind of inefficiency is unsustainable,” he adds.

Although there’s consensus on one thing: fixing this requires collaboration. Brands, platforms, and agencies - all must step up.

According to Mehta, brands should insist on third-party tracking and verification tools and work with platforms that allow transparent attribution — whether it's through MMPs (Mobile Measurement Partners), anti-fraud SDKs, or independent analytics. Quick commerce platforms, on their part, need to step up by offering transparent inventory sources, clear disclosure of partner networks, robust fraud detection mechanisms built into their ad tech, and support for independent tracking tools.

Moreover, co-developing custom brand safety metrics with clients — such as real user-based conversions or post-install engagement thresholds — can also help mitigate risk.

Some of the quick commerce platforms are increasingly using technology like SHIELD to identify fraudulent activities, track multi-accounters, and detect the use of bots and emulators. Companies are also partnering with identity verification providers to conduct background checks on employees and partners to mitigate the risk of collusion fraud, remarks Swaminathan.

Data analytics and machine learning are used to identify suspicious patterns and behaviors, enabling platforms to detect and prevent fraud more effectively. Additionally, platforms are implementing various measures to detect and prevent fraudulent activities, including limiting promo codes per user, monitoring suspicious transactions, and actively blocking fraudulent accounts.

Even custom metrics — like engagement thresholds or verified post-install actions — can help differentiate genuine users from fraudulent traffic.

While experts agree that speed is great, but not when it comes at the cost of trust. Because in a world that moves at a 10-minute delivery speed, losing crores to invisible clicks is a luxury no brand can afford.