Social Media Fraud: Identifying Fake Engagement and its Impact on Digital Marketing

Author(s)	Ms. Diptika Raju Shripad, Mr. S.S. Bhide
Country	India
Abstract	Social media has transformed digital marketing by enabling businesses to engage with audiences in real time. However, the rise of fake engagement fraud, including artificially inflated likes, followers, and comments, has created significant challenges for brands, advertisers, and consumers. Social Media Marketing (SMM) panels offer fraudulent services that manipulate engagement metrics, leading to misleading marketing insights and financial losses. This paper explores various social media fraud techniques, such as phishing, cloned accounts, investment fraud, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, dating scams, online shopping fraud, and spamming, highlighting their impact on brand credibility and user trust. Additionally, the study examines machine learning-based fraud detection techniques, including supervised and unsupervised models for identifying fake interactions. By understanding these fraudulent activities and developing robust detection mechanisms, businesses can safeguard their marketing investments and ensure authentic audience engagement.
Keywords	Fake engagement, Influencer Fraud, Digital Marketing, Social Media Bots, ROI Loss, Brand Fraud Detection
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June 2025
Published On	2025-05-27
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i03.46127
Short DOI	https://doi.org/g9mn5j

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International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research