Is Amazon PPC Click Fraud getting out of control in 2026?

It’s super shady that amz isn't doing more about it, but honestly, maybe try tightening your targeting to super niche audiences to see if that keeps the bots away
 
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I suggest optimizing your keywords and placements first, because most of the time “ghost traffic” is actually irrelevant clicks that can be reduced with better targeting
 
From what people are seeing in 2026, it’s not really out of control but it’s definitely more noticeable because CPC is higher and Amazon automation gives less transparency.
From my experience, some wasted clicks happen (bots or competitors), but most losses usually come from poor targeting or broad campaigns rather than pure click fraud, so fixing structure helps more than worrying about fraud.
 
Yeah, I’ve noticed the same high clicks but almost no conversions usually points to bot traffic. I try to watch CTR vs. sales closely and adjust targeting or use click-fraud tools to protect my budget.
 
unknownliw said:
It's definitely getting worse, Amazon's internal bot detection isn't catching sophisticated click farms anymore , so you need 3rd party monitoring to save your bidget.
Click to expand...
Amazon’s internal filtering doesn’t seem to catch more sophisticated traffic anymore, especially with click farms and scripted behavior that looks “real” at first glance. At that point, relying only on platform data isn’t enough, you need some kind of external monitoring to actually see what’s going on with traffic quality and where your budget is going.
 
The fraud click farms have been able to evade detection and will keep on evading detection. These fraud click farms are sophisticated and they use a combination of bots and human workers who do not just merely click, but they browse websites, scroll around, spend time on webpages, fill out forms to appear, etc, combined with residential / mobile IPs, device spoofing,etc, in order to appear as legitimate traffic.
 
Amazon PPC is working fine with me

My Roas Is Between 4-7

2-3% clicks may be of competitor but not all !!
 
Mr Unwanted said:
I’ve been running some targeted campaigns on Amazon Ads lately, and the traffic data is looking extremely suspicious.

I'm seeing high ctr but almost 0% engagement on the listing. Many sessions show instant bounces, behaving exactly like automated bots or click farms. It feels like my budget is being drained by competitors rather than real buyers.

Is anyone else seeing this "Ghost Traffic" on their Amazon PPC? Are there any tools or settings you guys use to filter out bot clicks, or is Amazon just letting this happen to make more money? Would love to hear how you guys are protecting your ad spend.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this is getting bad. Lots of clicks, almost no buyers. I just watch traffic closely and cut campaigns that look fake.
 
you are not alone A few sellers in my network have noticed this ghost traffic too. Sharing experiences and keeping an eye on weird spikes in clicks without conversions seems to be the best way to catch it early.
 
A lot of Amazon sellers are reporting similar behavior lately, especially on aggressive keyword campaigns and highly competitive niches. High CTR + almost no engagement, ultra-short session duration, and zero add-to-carts usually point to one of three things:

  • low-quality audience matching from Amazon’s algorithm
  • accidental/mobile misclicks from placements
  • invalid or competitor-driven clicks that Amazon doesn’t publicly disclose well
Unlike Google Ads, Amazon gives very limited transparency into click quality, IP data, or session behavior, so it’s difficult to prove “bot traffic” directly. That’s why many sellers call it ghost traffic.
 
Yeah, it’s getting wild. I’ve seen random spikes with zero conversions too. Best bet is tight negative keywords, geo-filtering, and keeping an eye on CTR vs conversions. No perfect fix, Amazon doesn’t really police it.
 
I noticed the same thing before high CTR but almost no conversions can definately be a sign of non human traffic. one thing that helps is monitoring placement reports and using negative targeting to block suspecious sources.
 
You’re not alone, lots of sellers noticed weird PPC traffic lately. High CTR with no add-to-cart usually means junk clicks or bad placement traffic.

I started lowering bids on broad keywords and focusing more on exact match + retargeting. Also watch placement reports closely, some placements burn money fast with zero sales.
 
Hard to prove click fraud on Amazon, but some campaigns def look suspicious at times.
 
Seen this happen a few times, specially in high margin niches where competitors get desperate. @Mr Unwanted if you are running auto campaigns or broad match, thats usually where the bots feast. Amazon definitely gets paid either way so they arent in a rush to fix it. One thing that saved my budget last year was manual dayparting... basically pausing campaigns from midnight to 6am when click farms are most active but real buyers are asleep. Its a pain to do without external tools but worth it if you are losing hundreds a day. @growyourbrand you are lucky man, most competitive categories are getting hammered with this lately.
 
Their click fraud protection is weak compared to Google. you can’t fully block it but negative targeting and tightening your keyword match types to exact and phrase reduces exposure.
 
Mr Unwanted said:
I’ve been running some targeted campaigns on Amazon Ads lately, and the traffic data is looking extremely suspicious.

I'm seeing high ctr but almost 0% engagement on the listing. Many sessions show instant bounces, behaving exactly like automated bots or click farms. It feels like my budget is being drained by competitors rather than real buyers.

Is anyone else seeing this "Ghost Traffic" on their Amazon PPC? Are there any tools or settings you guys use to filter out bot clicks, or is Amazon just letting this happen to make more money? Would love to hear how you guys are protecting your ad spend.
Click to expand...
Ive seen weird traffic too, but id check search terms and targeting first before blaming click fraud.
 
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