Affiliate Brand-Bidding Detection

Stop Paying Affiliates for Customers You Already Own.

Affiliates run Google ads on your brand terms, catch the click, and bill you the commission. Since February we've followed 82,529 ads on brand-name searches to where they actually go; 35,051 were affiliates intercepting the click, each captured with the publisher ID your network needs to act. First evidence on your brand in 24 hours.

No credit card requiredResults in 24 hours30-day guarantee · Evidence yours either way

Publisher IDs decoded onAwinImpactCJ AffiliateAdtractionWebgainsPaidOnResults

Best fit for programs with 20+ active affiliates or $10K+ in monthly commissions.

Built by an independent team in the EU. No VC funding. No sales calls. Just evidence.

Real Case File

CONFIRMED HIJACK

Singapore · 2026

Affiliate brand-bid hijack on coupon query

query
coupon
network
Awin
publisher id
#941621
violator
barakatalan.com

Redirect chain

Google Adbarakatalan.comawin1.com·brand

Forward-ready for network compliance

Live
35,051interceptions captured
Field Ledger

The numbers from the floor.

In the corpus behind our 2026 State of Affiliate Brand-Bidding report, 6 in 10 scanned brand portfolios produced at least one confirmed or likely detection. These are the running totals, pulled live from Sonar, our detection engine.

82,500Ads FollowedBrand-name searches, every major market
35,000Interceptions CapturedDetections shipped with full evidence
2,244Distinct OffendersUnique violator domains behind the detections
6Networks DecodedPublisher IDs extracted from every hop
Week of 2026-04-20: 43 interceptionsWeek of 2026-04-27: 0 interceptionsWeek of 2026-05-04: 49 interceptionsWeek of 2026-05-11: 5 interceptionsWeek of 2026-05-18: 0 interceptionsWeek of 2026-05-25: 32 interceptionsWeek of 2026-06-01: 194 interceptionsWeek of 2026-06-08: 112 interceptionsWeek of 2026-06-15: 105 interceptionsWeek of 2026-06-22: 132 interceptionsWeek of 2026-06-29: 158 interceptionsWeek of 2026-07-06: 133 interceptionsWeek of 2026-07-13: 1,355 interceptionsWeek of 2026-07-20: 2,631 interceptionsWeek of 2026-07-27: 5,810 interceptionsWeek of 2026-08-03: 6,694 interceptionsWeek of 2026-08-10: 622 interceptionsWeek of 2026-08-17: 5,618 interceptionsWeek of 2026-08-24: 2,862 interceptionsWeek of 2026-08-31: 1,974 interceptionsWeek of 2026-09-07: 0 interceptionsWeek of 2026-09-14: 0 interceptionsWeek of 2026-09-21: 1,192 interceptionsWeek of 2026-09-28: 927 interceptionsWeek of 2026-10-05: 1,083 interceptionsWeek of 2026-10-12: 941 interceptions so far
Interceptions per week · last 26 weeks · outlined = this week so far

Updated hourly · numbers rounded down

The Problem

You're Paying Affiliates to Steal Your Own Customers

01

A customer searches for your brand.

A real user types your brand plus a buying modifier: coupon, deal, promo, discount.

02

An affiliate intercepts the click.

A sponsored ad sits above your own result and routes the visitor through tracked links first.

03

You still pay for the sale.

The customer converts anyway, but now the order carries a commission for traffic that was already yours.

Across our scans, roughly 4 in 10 sponsored ads on branded buying-intent searches were affiliates intercepting the click. Heaviest where coupon and promo keywords go unmonitored.
Free Scan

Scan Your Brand for Free

Three keywords. Every major market. Full PDF report in 24 hours. No credit card.

01

Ten seconds, no email. Is your brand already in our register?

Instant check · from AdCrime’s live register

Reads what we already hold on this domain. Nothing is sent, nothing is queued.

02

The full report, 24 hours. Names, screenshots, publisher IDs. A person reviews every free scan before it ships.

The brand name we'll search for on Google.

We'll exclude this domain from fraud results.

Company-domain email, so we can verify you represent the brand. Personal inboxes are not approved. Need an exception? mario@adcrime.com

0 / 3 keywords

🔍 We'll search Google for:

Enter a brand name to see search queries

All 9 markets selected

Your free scan includes

  • Violating domains + ad screenshots
  • Affiliate IDs + redirect chains
  • 5-tier classification per detection
  • Coupon codes + network details

We never share your data. Results sent only to your email.

Exhibit A · Real Case

One Case File. Every Field Captured.

Pulled directly from our live detection database. Brand name shown exactly as the violator displayed it publicly: that's the violation. Violator domain, network, publisher ID, coupon codes, and redirect chain preserved as captured. This is what lands in a customer's inbox within 24 hours.

Classification

CONFIRMED FRAUD

Confirmed by

Static publisher ID

Region scanned

🇸🇬 Singapore

Detected

2026-04-23 · 12:08 UTC

The search

query: [brand name] coupon

Target: a mid-market VPN brand. Free scan requested by the brand.

The ad we caught

Sponsored · www.barakatalan.com/fastestvpn/coupons

www.barakatalan.com/fastestvpn/coupons · FastestVPN Coupon Code | Upto 93% Discount & Offers

Ad text as captured

The redirect chain · traced live

  1. Google Ad · sponsored slot
  2. barakatalan.com (coupon site)
  3. awin1.com/cread.php · tracking redirect
  4. [brand].com · landing

The publisher (smoking gun)

networkAwin

publisher id#941621

merchant id#90211

A static publisher ID, not a click hash. The exact account number the brand forwards to Awin compliance to get the affiliate terminated.

Unauthorized coupon codes

AR26CM24

Codes distributed without authorization under the brand's program terms. Commissions on these conversions are disputable inside the network's reversal window.

What the capture shows

  • Landing page contains known affiliate network links
  • Affiliate tracking parameter present: awinaffid
  • Known affiliate network: Awin
  • Coupon codes found: AR26, CM24
  • Multi-domain redirect chain (3 domains)
  • Coupon/deal site detected: barakatalan.com
  • Coupon site bidding on coupon/discount keyword
  • Publisher accounts detected: Awin #941621

Verdict

Unauthorized coupon positioning · confirmed

This is one report from one scan. In unmonitored programs, this is rarely the only case: first scans often surface multiple violators across coupon, promo, and review queries.

From your domain to a reversed commission

Here's What Happens Next.

The first three steps are the free scan, from your domain to the evidence in your inbox. The last three are what you do with it. Once you're monitoring, the loop is faster.

The free scan

You tell us the brand.

One short form. No credit card, no sales call, no demo booking. Takes thirty seconds.

You · 30 seconds

Sonar scans every major market.

Our detection engine runs real Google searches on your brand terms across the world's major search markets, looking for affiliates bidding on your name. Every violator is documented with screenshots, publisher IDs, ad copy, and redirect chains.

Sonar · runs in minutes

Your case file lands in 24 hours.

You receive a PDF with every fraudster we found, ready to forward to your affiliate network for clawback. Then you decide whether to subscribe and keep the detection running. No pressure, no follow-up sales sequence, no awkward “checking in” emails.

Your inbox · manually reviewed before it ships

After the PDF lands

Forward the case file to network compliance.

Each case file is forwarding-ready: screenshot, redirect chain, publisher ID, ad copy, timestamp, market. Attach it to a one-line email to Awin, Impact, CJ, or whichever network the violator is registered with; the static publisher ID is the key their compliance desk needs.

You · about 5 minutes per case

Dispute the commissions paid on hijacked traffic.

Most networks have a reversal window, often 30 to 90 days depending on the platform and contract. The publisher ID and timestamped evidence are what their dispute process asks for, and each report shows the date that window closes for its network.

Network compliance · same day to several business days

The affiliate gets actioned.

The network reviews, reverses, removes, or escalates the publisher account; repeat offenders across brands can be blocked network-wide. You stop paying that affiliate, and so does every other brand on the network.

Network · timing varies by platform and severity

After Signup

Every scan runs live on Sonar in minutes. Reports generate instantly.

The 24-hour promise is the free first scan. We review it manually before it ships. Once you're monitoring, new keywords, new markets, and fresh case files turn around in minutes, not days.

AdCrime produces the case file. Your affiliate manager forwards it. The network does the termination and the clawback. We don't replace your network compliance team; we hand them the one thing they can't produce on their own: the static publisher ID, with evidence, in 24 hours.

Before you ask

The four questions every affiliate manager asks first.

Will I forward a bad case to my network?

A case is Confirmed only when the chain ends on a network tracking link with a static publisher ID. Look that ID up in your own network dashboard before you send anything. Likely and competitor cases are labelled and kept apart, and a person reviews every free scan before it ships.

My network is not on your list.

We follow every ad on your terms to where it lands, whatever the link. On the six networks below the case file also carries the static publisher ID. Elsewhere it carries the full chain and every tracking parameter the link exposed, which is what a dispute needs.

Why do the plans talk about five keywords?

Five is the workload the included checks are sized for, not a cap. Interceptions cluster on a handful of patterns (your brand plus coupon, code, discount, promo, review), and the scan builder ranks suggestions by what has actually caught interceptions. Add as many as you like; each keyword costs checks, and the builder shows the bill before you save.

What happens after you find one?

You forward the case file. The network reverses the commission and actions the publisher. Steps four to six above are the whole loop, and every report shows the date your network's reversal window closes, so you file while the money can still come back.

Network Coverage

The six networks we decode.

Where the network's link format carries the publisher ID, we extract it. Where it carries only click tokens, we resolve the account from the rest of the chain. Either way, what lands in your dossier is the number your affiliate manager needs to file a dispute.

Awin

awinaffid=

Publisher ID

Impact

irclickid=

Click Tracking

CJ Affiliate

cjevent=

Click Tracking

Adtraction

as=

Publisher ID

Webgains

siteid=

Publisher ID

PaidOnResults

porc=

Click Tracking

If your brand is being bid on through any of these networks, we pull the publisher ID out of the redirect chain and hand it to you with the screenshot, the ad copy, and the timestamp. No network relationship required.

The Cost of Not Looking

The leak is ongoing. Run your own numbers.

In our five-month corpus, 8 of the 10 most active offender domains were still running ads in the final 48 hours of the window. They persist because they're anonymous; identification is what ends it. Until then, the leak compounds monthly. Drop your numbers in and pick the scenario that fits your program.

Your inputs

5%

Conservative · Low coupon-search exposure

3,500

How many sales come through your affiliate channel each month?

$80

Mean basket size in USD.

25%

Average affiliate commission, % of sale value.

Monthly affiliate spend$70,000

Estimated leak · 5% of commission spend

$3,500per month
$42,000per year

AdCrime Pro · $449 / mo

Pays for itself in 4 days at this leak estimate.

Your free scan replaces this estimate with evidence.

Scenario rates are assumptions, not measurements. BrandVerity's published ceiling for unmonitored programs is 12%; coupon-heavy verticals can run higher. Adjust for your program's coupon exposure, network mix, and monitoring history.

The Deal

Free First Scan. 30-Day Guarantee. Evidence Is Yours Either Way.

In our pre-launch and early-access scans of active affiliate programs, six in ten surfaced unauthorized or likely-unauthorized bidders. The first scan is free - if we find nothing, you walk away with nothing lost.

If the evidence is worth paying for, you keep the monitoring on. And if in the next 30 days you want out - didn't find enough, don't like the reports, changed your mind, whatever - reply with the word refund. On Entry, every dollar back. On Pro and Enterprise, every check you haven't used comes back at the plan's rate, and every dollar if we confirmed nothing. No call. No form. No “let's hop on a quick sync.”

You keep every piece of evidence we surfaced. Forever. Even if you refund.

All I'm Asking Is That You Look.

Look - I'm not going to ask you to decide if this is worth it from a landing page. That would be insane. The whole point of AdCrime is that the fraud is invisible until somebody looks. So all I'm asking is that you let me look. Sign up, let us scan your program, and read the evidence we send you. If it's worth what we're charging, you keep it. If it isn't, you walk away - no questions, no card charge, no hard feelings.

“Day one or day thirty - if you're not happy, I'm not happy.”

That's the whole deal.

I Guarantee It.

- Mario Vaher
  Founder, AdCrime
  Rural Estonia

Introducing Sonar 2.0

Six Months in the Lab. Now Yours.

Sonar is our detection engine: the system that watches your brand across the world's search markets and follows every intercepted click back to the account being paid. For six months it ran quietly for a handful of brands. Sonar 2.0 opens it to everyone.

Wider reach

Coverage across every major search market, not a fixed list.

Sharper detection

More reliable across languages, regions, and ad formats.

Faster

Fresh case files in minutes once you are monitoring.

Now the engine on every plan · no upcharge, any tier

Everything you get

The whole kit, on every plan.

Tiers change how much ground we cover and how often. Nothing else.

Get paid

Recovery clock

Every network has a window to reverse a commission. Each case file shows the date yours closes, so you file while the money can still come back.

One-click complaint kit

The complaint to Google and the complaint to the network, written from the case file's own evidence. Attach, send, done.

Coupon leak monitor

New

Paste the codes you issued and which channel got them. When one shows up on a page we captured, you learn which partner, list, or influencer leaked it.

Prove it

Forensic case file per violator

The ad, the full redirect chain, the landing page, and the static publisher ID behind it, in one file your network's compliance desk can act on without asking you a question.

Evidence file per report

A PDF and a pack of the raw captures for each report, in the form networks accept as proof. Nothing to assemble, nothing to screenshot yourself.

Your data, your tools

Export any filtered view as CSV, or pull the same records by API into your own reporting. Every plan. No data paywall.

Find it

Bidders view

Everyone running ads on your brand terms, affiliate or not, with the keyword they ran on and the capture. Competitors and unlabeled affiliates in one list.

Geo split detection

New

Some affiliates show the clean page to your market and run the affiliate route everywhere else. We name them for it, with a market-by-market matrix on the report.

Repeat offender flag

When the affiliate in your case file already has confirmed cases against other brands in our register, the report says so, with the count. Networks move faster on repeat offenders.

Every capability is on the features page, tier by tier on the pricing page. What shipped when is on the changelog.

Pricing

One Confirmed Violator Can Cover the Plan.

The first scan is always free. If we find fraud and you subscribe, you have 30 days to walk for any reason. Keep the evidence either way.

Entry

Your First Look at the Damage

$149/mo

5 keywords · 5 markets · checked every 4 hours

You pick the five markets from our list of 16. Keywords are not capped; each one costs checks.

Best for: A first audit, or a program that sells in up to five countries.

What you get

  • The whole kit: a case file per violator, complaint kit with the recovery clock, coupon leak monitor, geo split, Bidders view See everything →
  • 5 keywords in 5 markets you choose, checked every 4 hours
  • Email reports, CSV export, read-only API

One confirmed violator, with the evidence to act on it, can pay for the plan.

5,000 checks a month covers 5 keywords in 5 markets every 4 hours (4,500), with room for one-off runs. One check = one keyword in one market, once.

Free first scan + 30-day full refund
Start Monitoring →

Pro

Most popular

The Evidence Engine

$449/mo

5 keywords · all 16 markets · checked every hour

Best for: Programs that sell in several countries.

What you get

  • Everything in Entry
  • All 16 markets, every hour
  • An offender that appears in one market at nine is in your inbox before ten
  • Manager-assisted onboarding
  • Slack real-time alerts

Built to catch repeat offenders across markets, where most leaked commissions hide.

60,000 checks a month covers 5 keywords in all 16 markets every hour (57,600), with room to spare. One check = one keyword in one market, once.

Free first scan + 30-day refund on unused checks
Start Monitoring →

Enterprise

The Full Perimeter

$999/mo

5 brands · all markets every hour · home market every 15 minutes

Best for: Several brands, or a home market watched every 15 minutes.

What you get

  • Everything in Pro
  • Home market checked every 15 minutes
  • 5 brands at full cadence
  • Dedicated account manager
  • Telegram priority support
  • Personalized scan coverage on demand

At portfolio scale, leaked commissions compound. Continuous coverage is the cheaper line item.

350,000 checks a month covers 5 brands at full cadence (342,000), with room to spare. One check = one keyword in one market, once.

Free first scan + 30-day refund on unused checks
Start Monitoring →
Compare every capabilitySame evidence engine on every tier. Coverage and support change by tier; everything else is in every plan.Show table

What changes by tier

How much ground we cover, how often, and who picks up the phone. Every plan picks its own markets.

  • Checks per month

    One check = one keyword in one market, once.

    Entry
    5,000
    Pro
    60,000
    Enterprise
    350,000
  • Markets checked

    You pick them from the full list of 16, on any plan.

    Entry
    5 markets
    Pro
    All 16 markets
    Enterprise
    All markets
  • Check cadence

    Every 4 hours on Entry, every hour on Pro, and every 15 minutes on your home market on Enterprise. An ad that appears at nine is in your inbox before ten.

    Entry
    Every 4 hours
    Pro
    Every hour
    Enterprise
    Every hour; home market every 15 minutes
  • AI answers checkNew

    We ask ChatGPT for your coupon code in your markets, follow every page it cites to your site, and name the affiliate account each click pays, your brand name in someone else's domain, and codes that look private. Once a day on scheduled scans, at no extra checks.

    Entry
    Pro
    Enterprise
  • Brands monitored

    Every brand you add draws on the same monthly checks; Enterprise runs five at full cadence.

    Entry
    As many as your checks cover
    Pro
    As many as your checks cover
    Enterprise
    5 brands at full cadence
  • Slack real-time alerts

    Confirmed interceptions post to the channel you choose, as they land.

    Entry
    Pro
    Enterprise
  • Free first scan and a 30-day guarantee

    Reply with the word refund inside 30 days. Entry: every dollar back. Pro and Enterprise: the checks you have not used, at the plan's rate, and every dollar if we confirmed nothing.

    Entry
    Full refund within 30 days, no questions
    Pro
    Unused checks refunded within 30 days; full refund if nothing confirmed
    Enterprise
    Unused checks refunded within 30 days; full refund if nothing confirmed
  • Onboarding

    Pro is set up with a person on the call; Enterprise has one account manager for the life of the plan.

    Entry
    Self-serve
    Pro
    Manager-assisted onboarding
    Enterprise
    Dedicated account manager
  • Support

    Entry
    Email
    Pro
    Email
    Enterprise
    Telegram priority line
  • Personalized scan coverage on demand

    Entry
    Pro
    Enterprise

In every plan

The same evidence engine and the same kit, Entry to Enterprise.

Coverage

  • Keywords per brand: As many as your checks coverAdd as many as you like. Each keyword costs keywords times markets per run; the plan cards show the workload the included checks cover, and the scan builder shows the bill before you save.

Detection and evidence

  • Forensic case file per violatorFull redirect chain, extracted publisher ID, ad and landing screenshots.
  • Affiliate network and coupon codes identifiedThe network behind the affiliate route, named, plus the coupon codes captured along the way.
  • Deterministic evidence classificationConfirmed, likely, competitor, or cleared, with a confidence score where it applies.
  • Geo split detectionNewAn offender that serves the affiliate route to some markets and a clean page to others is named for it, with a badge in your list and a market matrix on the report.
  • Bidders viewEveryone advertising on your keywords without a proven affiliate route, with the keyword they ran on and the SERP capture.
  • Cross-brand offender flagA report says when its offender is confirmed against other brands in our register, in counts.
  • Offender history on your termsConfirmed captures across domains and sweeps, printed in the case file and the evidence file.
  • Keyword suggestions ranked by measured yieldThe scan builder suggests the patterns that actually catch interceptions and warns on the ones that never have.

Coupon leaks

  • Coupon leak monitorNewPaste the codes you issued, by channel. A captured code on your list is a leak with its channel named; a page of your own for the whole picture.
  • Which channel leaksPer-channel circulation: how many of your partner, email, or influencer codes are out there.
  • Leak alert in the scan completion emailWhen a captured code was on your list, the completion email says so, with the channel it came from.

Enforcement

  • One-click complaint kitBuilt from the report's own evidence, for Google and for the affiliate network the route belongs to.
  • Recovery clockEach report shows the clawback deadline for its network, so you file while the commission can still be reversed.
  • Evidence file per reportPDF plus a pack of the raw captures, in the form networks accept as proof.
  • Case file PDF download per scanOne button on any finished scan; the same PDF the free scan delivers.

Alerts and reports

  • Scan completion emails and daily or weekly digestsA report the moment a scan finishes, and a digest daily or weekly, your choice.

Data and integrations

  • CSV export of any filtered viewFilter the reports list, export exactly that as CSV.
  • Read-only reports API with keys and a public referenceSame records as the CSV, as JSON or CSV, with a published rate limit.

Account and support

  • Instant exposure check, no account neededNewType a domain on the landing page and read its exposure from our register; paste a code you issued to see whether it is circulating; a company email unlocks the per-market breakdown.
  • Request more checks from your dashboardNewOne line of context, reviewed by a person, answered on the same card.
How checks work

One check is one keyword searched in one market, once. Every plan card above says how many keywords, how many markets, and how often.

A run costs keywords times markets. Five keywords in five markets is 25 checks; every four hours, that is 150 a day and 4,500 a month.

Unused checks roll forward for one billing cycle.

Example workload

Entry: 5 keywords, 5 markets, every 4 hours is 4,500 checks a month. That is why Entry ships 5,000.

Pro: 5 keywords across all 16 markets, every hour, is 57,600. Pro ships 60,000.

Enterprise: 5 brands, every market hourly and the home market every 15 minutes, is 342,000. Enterprise ships 350,000.

Comparable tools often start around $500+/mo, add crawling fees, require trials or demos, or bundle affiliate compliance into broader enterprise suites.

Agency

Running Multiple Brands? White-Label the Whole Thing.

Starts at

$2,499/mo

Built for agencies, holding companies, and ecommerce groups monitoring several brands at once. Custom quote, custom workflows, white-label everything.

Talk to us
  • Everything in Enterprise
  • Multi-brand dashboard (manage unlimited client brands)
  • White-label PDF reports (your logo on every dossier)
  • Unlimited team seats + role-based access
  • Dedicated account rep
  • Custom integrations and workflows
  • Quarterly executive reviews

Full report intelligence on every plan. Paid tiers buy scan volume and automation, not access to what we found. We will never sell you back your own evidence.

Honest Filter

Who AdCrime Isn't For.

If any of these describe you, don't sign up. We'll save you a refund email and we'll save us a disappointed customer.

You don't run an affiliate program.

AdCrime only detects affiliates bidding on your brand. No affiliates, no fraud to detect. We're the wrong tool.

You have fewer than 20 active affiliates.

At that size you can audit your program manually in an afternoon. We become worth it around 20-30 active publishers.

Your monthly affiliate commissions are under $10K.

The exposure is real even at this scale, but the operational overhead of paid monitoring rarely justifies itself yet. Run manual spot checks until the program grows, then come back.

You want a demo call, a discovery session, and a 6-week procurement cycle.

Every tool on this page except ours offers that. We optimize for the affiliate manager who wants evidence in 24 hours, not a pipeline meeting.

Everyone else: get a free brand scan →

FAQ

Common Questions

Final Check

Ready to find out if affiliates are bidding on your brand?

Free scan. No credit card. Results in 24 hours. If the problem is real, you'll have proof worth acting on.

This is what brand protection sounds like.

90 seconds. You'll understand everything we do.

Yes, it's a rap song. No, we're not sorry.

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