Last updated: 2 July 2025

We explain why Spanish speaking jobseekers are clicking your ads and submitting job applications via your leads form, how this wastes your ad budget, and what you can do to stop these fake clicks.

What is click fraud?

Before explaining why you’re receiving fake clicks from Spanish speaking jobseekers, it’s important to understand what click fraud is.

Typically, click fraud happens like this:

  1. A scammer creates a realistic-looking website and sets up a publisher advertising account with an ad network such as Google Ads or Microsoft Ads. This lets them display other people’s ads on their site.

  2. The scammer then uses automated software designed to mimic real users. This software employs residential proxies to get new IP addresses with each visit and randomizes device fingerprints to appear as different unique devices.

  3. Rather than waiting for actual visitors, the scammer’s software generates thousands of fake visits daily. Many of these visits result in ad clicks, and each click costs the advertiser a fee which is paid to the ad network and shared with the scammer.

Another common form is retargeting click fraud, but the key takeaway here is that scammers set up websites, place ads on them, generate fake clicks, and make significant money from this scheme.

Why am I receiving ad clicks from Spanish speaking jobseekers?

This scam is a variation of typical click fraud and shares many features with click arbitrage.

Here’s how it usually works:

A scammer creates a realistic website, sets up a publisher advertising account with Google Ads, and runs it.

They produce a Spanish-language TikTok video promising high-paying, no-skill jobs for Spanish speakers in the US. The video directs viewers to the scammer’s website, which displays ads—usually local ads unrelated to jobs for Spanish speakers. These are regular ads for various products and services.

Spanish speakers, unaware it’s a scam, click the ads, find the leads form on the advertisers’ websites, and apply for jobs that don’t exist.

For advertisers, this causes three main problems:

  1. They pay for the fake clicks, which can be costly depending on the industry and location.
  2. The fake job applications waste time, resources, and cause confusion.
  3. Because the clicks come from real people on a scammer’s website, Google treats them as valid and does not issue refunds.

How to prevent ad clicks from Spanish speaking jobseekers?

The good news is that avoiding fake clicks from Spanish speaking jobseekers is straightforward and also helps reduce overall click fraud.

Since the scammer’s website displays ads from Google’s display network and search partner network, turning off the display network and search partner network will stop your ads from appearing on their site.

We generally recommend clients avoid all display networks and search partners because they tend to have a high volume of bots and low-quality clicks.

To disable Google’s display network, go to your ad campaign in the Google Ads website, select Settings, then Networks, and uncheck “Include Google Display Network.”

To disable Google’s search partner network, go to your ad campaign in the Google Ads website, select Settings, then Networks, and uncheck “Include Google Search Partners.”

If you use Performance Max campaigns, consider switching to a standard shopping campaign; otherwise, Google will continue to show your ads on the display network and search partners.

In summary

Click fraud scammers use TikTok videos to deceive unsuspecting Spanish-speaking jobseekers into clicking your ads and applying for fake jobs. This wastes your advertising budget, time, and resources, and can cause confusion.

To stop ad clicks from Spanish speaking jobseekers and other types of click fraud, simply disable Google’s display network and search partner network.