As for fake traffic, I know it exists but do not understand it well enough to give a proper explanation so I will leave it for someone else to explain.
Either to pad their personal portfolio of "web development projects" that they "themselves personally" had fostered and cultivated, in order to have all of those amazing "earned hits" be proof of fake work they know how to do. Or, to just sell the site/domain/services. Ego too, to satisfy their own little ego, by making people believe in their lies, in an attempt to receive outside validation of their fake embetterment status; hoping to then claim entitlement of the false claim because someone else other than his own ego told him that his website with the fake traffic hits is awesome.
This creates the appearance of popularity. Plus it's very cheap. Often, users do not watch your live subscribers or not, they are only interested in the number.
What is the benefit of buying fake traffic? And in case you buy fake traffic, what's the effect on your website? Your thoughts?
Most people purchase fake traffic for two reasons: 1. They start a blog or build a website and don’t have a clear understanding of what their motivation is and what they expect to get from it. 2. They are involved in a get-rich-quick MLM program and trying to drive free traffic to a second-hand website or squeeze page. I honestly believe they don’t know it’s face traffic, but that is no excuse; their underlying problem is, they want quick success and are not prepared to invest in themselves.
To be quite honest, I never understood it as well, I know that people are trying to get more traffic this way and manipulate that traffic in some way later, but I really don't think this is something that could bring some long-term results. It's obviously a lot harder to attract real clicks and get visits from real people, as it requires a lot of work and effort, but from my perspective, it's better to have fewer quality visitors on the site, than a bunch of bots, which don't serve for anything unless for tricking others that you're successful.