Fraud in the incentive industry is inevitable because people will do anything to get money. When you are offering ways to get “free” cash or prizes, fraud will follow. It hurts the industry in many ways because companies begin pulling out once they realize they are losing money due to poor traffic It also hurts your business because your leads are revoked (reversed) by the affiliate companies, which means your money has been taken away.

So here are some tips to catch these scammers:

1) Telephone Verification – This can cost about $200/month based on the traffic you get. More traffic = higher cost. This may sound bad but think about it like this also; more traffic = more fraud. Would you rather lose $2,000 or $200? Exactly.

2) Duplicate Information Matching – Make sure your script catches duplicate names, physical addresses, passwords, e-mail addresses (ie: asdf@scam.com matches to asd@scam.com), and most important IP addresses. I cannot explain to you how helpful this is in catching fake/multiple accounts. IP addresses are very important because they can tell you where the person is located city and state wise. So if a user signs up from Texas but claims they are from Florida, checking their IP address will tell you what state they are really from. It also works with cities but not as accurate, so I suggest a red flag only be raised if the cities are far apart where they shouldn’t be mixed up. A great website to check an IP address is http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?Getlocation.

3) E-Mail Verification – When a user registers for your website, have your script send an e-mail containing a link to verify their account. This is good because many users use fake e-mail addresses when signing up. This can also be helpful when used with tip number 2. If a user fails with their fake e-mail address and sign up with another one that works, you can trace their information and see what matches up. Normally users who have 2 different accounts are red flags.

4) Completed Campaigns – Always pay attention to the campaigns that the user completes and the campaigns that their referrals complete. If a user completed two credit report campaigns, that’s normally a red flag. Why would they need to complete two of them, is one not enough? Also, if a user and their referral(s) complete the same campaigns, the user is obviously guiding the referral on which one to complete. I’m talking about the same exact campaigns in a row, not just one. For example is a user completes Freecreditreport.com and Blockbuster, and their referral(s) complete the same exact campaigns, then that’s a red flag also. I know that this is pretty ticky tack, but better to be safe than sorry.

5) ID Verification – Never ever, ever, ever, EVER be afraid to ask your user to verify their ID. If you see ANY red flags or are just plain suspicious about their account, ask for an ID, specifically a drivers license. If they have nothing to hide they will send their ID. Some users will be worried and scared to send you their ID, but let them know they can block out their drivers license number just in case. Remember, when in doubt, screw everything else and ask for an ID!

6) Google – Face it, Google has everything. Google your name and you’ll some how find something that actually pertains to you. This is the same way with users. If you see a suspicious user, Google their information such as email and address and see what comes up. Sometimes you’ll see that their address is actually an address of some restaurant near their house. And if you are wondering…yes I have caught many people like this. Stupid Scammers.

Alright so there’s my “bread and butta” to containing the massive fraud that can incur in the incentive industry. Let me know if this works out for you and if you have any other tips I should add here.