How a $25M Fraud Case Highlights Programmatic Advertising’s Trust Crisis

The Case: $25M in Fake Revenue

In August 2025, U.S. prosecutors charged senior executives from Near Intelligence, Inc. and MobileFuse LLC with running a $25 million accounting fraud between 2021 and 2023.

The scheme relied on “round-trip” transactions. Near paid MobileFuse inflated sums, which were then returned to Near. On paper, these transfers appeared as revenue. In reality, the money simply cycled back and forth.

The inflated results made Near look financially strong to investors and buyers. Prosecutors allege more than $25 million was recycled, with some of it used for personal gain. Charges include conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud. Near’s CEO Anil Mathews is contesting extradition from France, CFO Rahul Agarwal is still at large, and MobileFuse CEO Kenneth Harlan was arrested.

How Programmatic Complexity Hid the Fraud

This case wasn’t about fake clicks or bots. It was about hiding fraud inside the same complex programmatic ad flows that marketers deal with every day.

Programmatic advertising already suffers from poor transparency. Budgets pass through multiple exchanges, DSPs, SSPs, and verification layers. Few advertisers have visibility into how the money moves. That opacity gave Near and MobileFuse the perfect cover to mask fraudulent transactions as legitimate revenue.

When ad tech systems are this opaque, they don’t just enable ad fraud, they can also disguise corporate fraud.

The Bigger Risk: Broken Confidence in Ad Tech

This indictment highlights a deeper issue: trust in programmatic advertising is fragile. If financial data inside ad tech can be manipulated to mislead investors, marketers must ask whether the impressions, installs, and conversion numbers they see can be trusted either.

When ad infrastructure can double as a vehicle for accounting tricks, it undermines the entire ecosystem. Transparency isn’t optional anymore, it’s the foundation of accountability in digital advertising.

Key Takeaway

The Near–MobileFuse scheme wasn’t ad fraud in the usual sense. But by exploiting programmatic’s lack of visibility, it showed how easily the system can be abused. Until the industry demands real transparency, trust in programmatic advertising will stay on shaky ground.

At Tapper, we believe clear, verifiable reporting is the only way to protect advertisers from both invalid traffic and the wider trust problems that plague programmatic.