The Skeptical Marketer

Ad fraud isn’t a niche problem, it’s the business model.In this episode of The Skeptical Marketer, host Jake Surrey sits down with Dr. Augustine Fou, one of the original investigators of digital ad fraud and the founder of Fou Analytics, to unpack just how deep and normalized the problem has become. From fake websites and cloned mobile apps to legacy fraud verification firms that look the other way, Dr. Fou explains why the digital ad ecosystem remains a playground for organized crime—and

Ad fraud isn’t a bug in the system. It is the system.In this episode of The Skeptical Marketer, host Jake Surrey sits down with Nasser Ouijdane, CEO of Tapper AI, to dig into the hidden mechanics of fraudulent traffic, botnets, and the black-box incentives that make digital advertising feel more Wild West than regulated marketplace. With experience as an entrepreneur and founder in the SaaS space, Nasser stumbled into ad fraud by accident—and uncovered just how deep the rabbit hole goes

What happens when the world’s biggest ad platform in the world starts hiding the receipts?In this episode of The Skeptical Marketer, Jake sits down with Ed Leake, founder of God Tier Ads and one of the world’s leading Google Ad’s experts and trainers, to get under the hood of how Google Ads is working in the wild. Ed’s seen it all: the wins, the faceplants, and the dashboards that look brilliant right up until your actual sales tank.With a healthy distrust of platform defaults and a

If you think analytics is just about dashboards and attribution models, Stéphane Hamel is here to ruin your day—in the best possible way.In this episode of The Skeptical Marketer, Jake sits down with Stéphane Hamel, a digital analytics veteran, ethics advocate, and lecturer at Université Laval. With decades of experience and a sharp outsider’s lens, Stéphane isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions: Who benefits from your marketing data? What are the hidden trade-offs in automation? And why

If you’ve ever wondered whether Google’s ad products are helping your business—or bleeding it dry—this episode of The Skeptical Marketer with guest Arielle Garcia is essential listening.Arielle is the Chief Operating Officer of Check My Ads Institute, an independent nonprofit watchdog advocating for transparency in digital advertising. A former Chief Privacy & Responsibility Officer at a global media agency, Arielle has seen the ecosystem from both the inside and outside—and she’s not

If you’re wondering where digital marketing is heading and how seismic shifts at Google and across the internet are impacting brands, then this episode of the Skeptical Marketer with guest Charlie Grinnell is a must-listen. Charlie is the co-CEO and co-founder of Right Metric, a strategic insights partner specializing in analyzing huge digital datasets across web, search, social, and advertising for major brands. With a background spanning creative video production, brand-side marketing at

Big Tech is under the microscope — and we’re not looking away. The Skeptical Marketer is your guide to the digital world we’ve built, featuring sharp, unfiltered conversations about antitrust trials, ad fraud, platform accountability, and the truth behind your media spend. Hosted by Jake Surrey, this show brings together legal experts, watchdogs, and insiders to unpack the forces shaping tech, trust, and transparency. New episodes every week.