Bundle-ID spoofing: 14% of in-app spend was hitting fake apps

Bundle-ID spoofing: 14% of in-app spend was hitting fake apps
A buyer's reports showed strong performance on premium app inventory. Pixalate-style app-ads.txt and bundle verification told a different story.

Cross-checking declared bundle IDs against store reality, 14% of impressions claimed premium bundles that didn't match the actual rendering app — classic SDK spoofing in the bidstream.

They added pre-bid bundle verification and blocklisted the offending SSP paths.

✓ app-ads.txt + bundle verification caught spoofing pre-bid
✓ Recovered 14% of spend from inventory that didn't exist as sold
✗ Pre-bid verification adds latency and a vendor fee
✗ Spoofers rotate SSP paths — it's a maintenance game

Verdict: verify bundle IDs pre-bid; declared inventory lies.
Best for: programmatic in-app buyers on open exchanges.