Fraud Prevention
Protect your competitions from abuse with automated fraud detection, velocity checks, and compliance profiles.
Overview
The fraud prevention system automatically screens every ticket purchase for suspicious activity. It runs multiple checks in real time and can flag or block orders that match known fraud patterns — protecting both you and your legitimate customers.
Fraud Check Types
Velocity Check
Detects unusually rapid purchasing behaviour from a single customer or IP address.
- Flags customers who place multiple orders within a short time window
- Configurable threshold (e.g. more than 5 orders in 10 minutes)
- Helps prevent automated bot purchases
Hoarding Detection
Identifies customers attempting to buy a disproportionate share of available tickets.
- Flags when a single customer's tickets exceed a percentage of total supply
- Works alongside the per-customer ticket limit set in the competition wizard
- Prevents one buyer from dominating a competition
Disposable Email Detection
Blocks or flags orders from throwaway email addresses.
- Checks the email domain against a database of known disposable email providers
- Helps enforce the "one entry per person" principle
- Reduces duplicate entries from the same person using multiple throwaway accounts
Duplicate Detection
Identifies potential duplicate accounts based on matching data points.
- Cross-references email patterns, names, and purchase behaviour
- Flags orders that appear to come from the same person using different accounts
- Helps maintain fair competition for all entrants
Compliance Profiles
Pre-built compliance profiles bundle multiple fraud checks together for common use cases:
| Profile | Checks Included | Best For | |---|---|---| | UK Prize Competition | Velocity, hoarding, disposable email, duplicate detection | Standard UK prize draws | | Charity Raffle | All checks + enhanced duplicate detection | Charity fundraising events | | International | Velocity, disposable email + geo-restriction options | Competitions with international entries |
Applying a Profile
Go to Settings
Navigate to Dashboard > Settings > Fraud Prevention.
Select a profile
Choose a pre-built compliance profile or create a custom configuration.
Configure thresholds
Adjust the sensitivity of each check to match your needs. Stricter settings catch more fraud but may also flag legitimate bulk buyers.
Save
Changes apply to all future orders immediately.
Reviewing Flagged Orders
When a fraud check flags an order, it appears in your dashboard with a warning indicator. You can:
- Review the flag reason — See which check triggered and why
- Approve the order — Mark it as legitimate if it's a false positive
- Refund the order — Process a refund if the order is genuinely fraudulent
Tip
Start with the default thresholds and adjust based on your experience. Most competitions don't need aggressive fraud settings unless you're running high-value prizes or seeing suspicious activity.
Best Practices
- Enable fraud prevention before launching high-value competitions — The higher the prize value, the more likely you'll attract fraudulent entries
- Review flagged orders promptly — Customers with flagged orders may be waiting for confirmation
- Use compliance profiles as a starting point — They're designed for common scenarios and can be customised
- Monitor your flag rate — If more than 5% of orders are flagged, your thresholds may be too strict
- Combine with per-customer ticket limits — Fraud prevention works best alongside the ticket limits set in the competition wizard
Related
- UK Compliance — Legal compliance for UK prize competitions
- Orders Management — Review and manage flagged orders
- Payments & Stripe — Stripe Radar fraud detection (separate from platform-level checks)