Problematic Interstitials - Fake App Update Prompt

[Jake R]

Hi,

As of a few weeks ago, I am receiving complaints from users that my app is showing a fake prompt stating that an update is required for my apps. This is coming from AdMob interstitials. When tapped, a completely different app is opened on the Google Play Store. There seems to be a sudden surge in creatives doing this, because there are many different creatives like this now.

It seems to be causing significant confusion, because the CTR of these interstitials is above 100% in a lot of cases. That is itself very strange.

Interestingly, when I look up these problematic interstitials in AdMob's ad review center, the previews show completely normal looking ads for things such as PDF readers, AI translation tools and flight trackers. In practice, the ads are showing something completely different to users. I'm guessing that is how they are making it through Google's ad review process.

I have attached a screenshot showing what one of these ads look like. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a solution. I have been blocking the creatives when I find them, but sadly there are more every day.

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting the Mobile Ads SDK Support team.

Please use the following help center articles to know more about interstitial ads: Disallowed interstitial implementations, Interstitial ad guidance and Interstitial ads.

Could you kindly provide the below information via reply to author option for further investigation:

• app ID
• ad unit ID
• Mobile Ads SDK Version

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

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[2025-03-10 06:07:02Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH7pK:ref" (ADR-00292825)

[Mobile Ads SDK Forum Advisor]

Hi Jake,

Thank you for providing the creatives.

I ran the AdMob interstitialExample with the provided app ID and ad unit ID and the fake prompt is not showing for me. I also tried to run AdManager interstitialExample, but couldn’t since AdManager ad unit ID is not found. In order to check this issue in our sample application we would require an ad unit ID( demo ad unit IDs for your reference) for which the fake prompt is appearing and send us charles log for the same. 

You can provide the following details via reply privately to the author option.

Thanks,
 

Mobile Ads SDK Team

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How was our support today?

               

[2025-03-10 21:21:35Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH7pK:ref" (ADR-00292825)